Introducing The 50.

Where I share the story and lessons of a top 50 largest company in the world.

Time for #3.

What started as a failing textile business became the 6th largest company in the world.

Let's dive in 🧵

Berkshire Hathaway is a multinational conglomerate that owns 60+ well-known businesses like Geico, Duracell, Kraft Heinz, and Dairy Queen.

It's also a highly coveted stock with one Class A share priced in at $430,000.

And it all began with Warren Edward Buffett...
• The Greatest Investor of All Time

• The Oracle of Omaha

• The Dumbledore of Investing (my personal fav)

Warren Buffett is a value investing legend and is responsible for growing Berkshire Hathaway into the $655 bn behemoth that it is today.
Born during the height of the Depression, Buffett watched his parents struggle to make ends meet in their hometown of Omaha, NE.

One night, a young Warren declared that he would make $1 million by the age of 35 or throw himself off the tallest building he could find in Omaha.
Buffet had a passion for numbers from a young age.

He collected bottle caps left outside of soda machines and analyzed for which brands and flavors customers preferred most.

This soon turned into tracking and recording stock prices that he would see in his father’s newspapers.
At 13, Buffett began working as a paperboy.

He quickly realized he could maximize profit by expanding revenue streams.

So he started selling magazine subscriptions to his customers.

Before he knew it, Buffett was earning $175/month (≈$3,000 today) from his paper route.
Buffett used these earnings to buy a 40-acre farm in Nebraska for $1,200.

He was 15 years old...

After graduating from high school, he used the profits from the farm to pay his way through the University of Nebraska.
After being rejected from Harvard Business School, Buffett was accepted into and attended Columbia Business School.

While in New York, he opted to stay at a local YMCA for free rather than paying for room and board.
Buffett returned to the University of Nebraska after graduating from Columbia to study public speaking and teach a course on Investing.

It was there that his former professor and mentor Benjamin Graham offered him a job as an Investment Salesman and Securities Analyst.
By the time he was 26, Buffett had accumulated over $174,000 in savings.

That's just over $1.5M today.

In 1956, he launched his investment company Buffett Partnership.

He put in $100 of his own & raised $10,000 from ten doctors.
The company focused on growing wealth by investing in businesses with proven earning potential and tangible assets.

His most influential deal was the acquisition of Berkshire Hathaway in 1964.
At the time, Berkshire Hathaway was a struggling textile company.

Buffett continued operations after taking control, but knew he would need to shift focus towards investing in other companies.

By 1985, the textile biz was liquidated and BH was established as a holding company.
Buffet grew Berkshire Hathaway by buying equity in undervalued companies for the purpose of long-term holding.

Insurance companies make up a good chunk of BH’s portfolio but Buffett has diversified with non-financial brands as well.
Here are many of Berkshire Hathaway's companies:

• Benjamin Moore
• Brooks
• Duracell
• Fruit of the Loom
• GEICO
• Dairy Queen
• Kraft Heinz
• NetJets

And largest investments:

• Bank of America
• Apple
• Coca-Cola
• Verizon
• AmEx
• GM
• Kroger
Berkshire Hathaway is successful for 3 reasons:

1) Buffett’s investment philosophy
2) Insurance float
3) Lack of dividends
BUFFETT'S PHILOSOPHY

Focus, patience, track record.

Warren stays in his circles of competence: financials & consumer staples.

Warren is patient AF. He lets his investments do the talking over decades not days.

Warren invests in proven businesses with cash flow & moats.
INSURANCE FLOAT

Float = $ insurance companies receive as premiums, but haven't been paid out as claims.

This money can be invested.

Sitting at over $138B, Berkshire Hathaway’s float is the biggest in the world and allows them to quickly acquire and revitalize ailing brands.
NO DIVIDENDS

Shares of Berkshire Hathaway do not pay out dividends.

Buffett believes this money can be better spent reinvesting in the companies BH controls.

+ this strategy encourages long-term investors in BH.
Despite the immense success of Berkshire Hathaway and a $108bn net worth, Buffett maintains a humble lifestyle.

He loves to eat at McDonalds.

He’s lived in the same house since 1958.

He averages five cans of coke per day.

He drives a used car.
THE PUNCHLINE: By picking great businesses and great stocks, you can deliver outsized results if you invest for the long-term.

And by delivering outsized results while explaining things simply & maintaining humility, you can build a legacy for the long-term.
If you enjoyed this thread & want to see future breakdowns of big businesses follow me on Twitter!

@businessbarista

More from Alex Lieberman ☕️

Introducing "The Balloon Effect"

Many businesses & creators have experienced a similar pattern of success.

From @MrBeastYT and @MorningBrew to @oatly and @Rovio.

Let's break down what "The Balloon Effect" is and examples of it in real life.

Keep reading 👇


1/ What is "The Balloon Effect"?

It is a particular pattern of growth.

It is not Instagram's growth trajectory.

It is not
https://t.co/5axsTUKek6's growth trajectory.

"The Balloon Effect" is defined by several years of hard work & grit complemented by slow, linear growth.

2/ And then one day, one month, or one quarter...everything changes.

A business hits a tipping point and its trajectory shifts entirely.

Gradual growth turns to exponential growth & your brand and your size explode.

Like a step function.

3/ Now, you're probably wondering.

Why is it called "The Balloon Effect"?

Because filling/popping a water balloon follows the exact pattern I just described (and so many businesses experience).

Long unsexy slog 👉 Exponential tipping point.

4/ Initially, you turn on the faucet & water takes up space in the empty balloon.

Through effort you open the faucet, yet the results are unexciting.

But it's what must be done for water (or growth) to happen at all.

It's not sexy, but it's necessary.

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MASTER THREAD on Short Strangles.

Curated the best tweets from the best traders who are exceptional at managing strangles.

• Positional Strangles
• Intraday Strangles
• Position Sizing
• How to do Adjustments
• Plenty of Examples
• When to avoid
• Exit Criteria

How to sell Strangles in weekly expiry as explained by boss himself. @Mitesh_Engr

• When to sell
• How to do Adjustments
• Exit


Beautiful explanation on positional option selling by @Mitesh_Engr
Sir on how to sell low premium strangles yourself without paying anyone. This is a free mini course in


1st Live example of managing a strangle by Mitesh Sir. @Mitesh_Engr

• Sold Strangles 20% cap used
• Added 20% cap more when in profit
• Booked profitable leg and rolled up
• Kept rolling up profitable leg
• Booked loss in calls
• Sold only


2nd example by @Mitesh_Engr Sir on converting a directional trade into strangles. Option Sellers can use this for consistent profit.

• Identified a reversal and sold puts

• Puts decayed a lot

• When achieved 2% profit through puts then sold
Ivor Cummins has been wrong (or lying) almost entirely throughout this pandemic and got paid handsomly for it.

He has been wrong (or lying) so often that it will be nearly impossible for me to track every grift, lie, deceit, manipulation he has pulled. I will use...


... other sources who have been trying to shine on light on this grifter (as I have tried to do, time and again:


Example #1: "Still not seeing Sweden signal versus Denmark really"... There it was (Images attached).
19 to 80 is an over 300% difference.

Tweet: https://t.co/36FnYnsRT9


Example #2 - "Yes, I'm comparing the Noridcs / No, you cannot compare the Nordics."

I wonder why...

Tweets: https://t.co/XLfoX4rpck / https://t.co/vjE1ctLU5x


Example #3 - "I'm only looking at what makes the data fit in my favour" a.k.a moving the goalposts.

Tweets: https://t.co/vcDpTu3qyj / https://t.co/CA3N6hC2Lq

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Trump is gonna let the Mueller investigation end all on it's own. It's obvious. All the hysteria of the past 2 weeks about his supposed impending firing of Mueller was a distraction. He was never going to fire Mueller and he's not going to


Mueller's officially end his investigation all on his own and he's gonna say he found no evidence of Trump campaign/Russian collusion during the 2016 election.

Democrats & DNC Media are going to LITERALLY have nothing coherent to say in response to that.

Mueller's team was 100% partisan.

That's why it's brilliant. NOBODY will be able to claim this team of partisan Democrats didn't go the EXTRA 20 MILES looking for ANY evidence they could find of Trump campaign/Russian collusion during the 2016 election

They looked high.

They looked low.

They looked underneath every rock, behind every tree, into every bush.

And they found...NOTHING.

Those saying Mueller will file obstruction charges against Trump: laughable.

What documents did Trump tell the Mueller team it couldn't have? What witnesses were withheld and never interviewed?

THERE WEREN'T ANY.

Mueller got full 100% cooperation as the record will show.