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Berkshire Hathaway Year To Date

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Portfolio manager’s Letter March 2008

So far in the year to date, Berkshire Hathaway has continued to power our investment portfolios to a strong level of out-performance. The composite result of our accounts up 2.0% for the year as of February 29th compared the S&P 500 and the Wilshire 5000 which are down 9.38% and 9.20% respectively. For the 12 months ended on February 29 our composite result was up 24.7% while the S&P and the Wilshire were both off about 5.5%.

This Relative margin of plus 30% for the 12 months feels good for now, but positive trends do not go on forever so enjoy the good news while it lasts. If the Bear Market continues (which I think likely) sooner or later it takes down even the strongest companies.

As the cash crunch continues distressed leveraged speculators will tend sell their strong companies to meet the margin calls on their junk. For this reason we raised our cash levels a little last month and we may do more of this in the next couple of months.

Joint Venture Losch, Tabakov Capital Management LLC

It is with considerable optimism that I announce that Losch Investment Management LLC has formed a joint venture that will be called Losch, Tabakov Capital Management LLC. While this joint venture will have little impact on any of our existing accounts in the immediate future, its long term objective is to develop a partnership that will provide continuity in management philosophy and improved investment results for all our existing clients.

In short, this joint venture is the result of my decision to follow Warren Buffett’s lead and abandon my plan to run our portfolios from the grave. The other half of the joint venture is Tabakov Capital Management LLC. A company founded by Rui Tabakov Reboucas. I have Known Rui Tabakov Reboucas since 2003 when we met to discuss the investment management business, and our mutual interest in Berkshire Hathaway.

At the time Rui Tabakov Reboucas was trying to decide between managing investments and a legal career. Based on my own experience I encouraged him to pursue the investment business. Rui was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1976. He comes from a family with a very strong legal tradition.

His grandfather was Chief Justice of the Sao Paulo State Supreme Court; his father is a retired judge; other relatives include two Justices, one judge, two State’s attorneys, and two lawyers. Rui Tabakov Reboucas’s maternal grandparents immigrated to Brazil from Bulgaria shortly after World War II. Mr. Rui Tabakov Reboucas graduated in Law at the Pontificia Universidade Catolica de Sao Paulo in 1999.

Unsatisfied with just one law degree Rui Tabakov Reboucas then moved to this country and enrolled in George Washington University’s Law School. He received his Juris Doctor degree from that University in 2002. Mr. Reboucas published in 2005 the translation to Portuguese and adaptation to the Brazilian context of The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America.

He is a Registered Investment Advisor in the State of New York, and a confirmed value investor. As you can see from the above Rui Tabakov Reboucas is obviously a lot smarter than I, having begun the study of Warren Buffett’s and Charlie Munger’s investment philosophy several decades earlier in his life than I did. I have been working with Rui Tabakov Reboucas for several months to establish our joint venture, and have been impressed with the quality of his investment research, and his understanding of the market.

From the beginning it was obvious that Rui’s investment philosophy and mine are closely matched. In the early stages of this joint venture Rui Tabakov Reboucas’s main contribution will be to add depth and perspective to our stock research, and I feel sure that his talents will have an immediate positive impact on upon our investment results. While, I have no plans to cede control of decision process anytime soon I feel this is a very positive step in the succession process, and by getting started now it gives us lots of time to benefit from each other’s ideas to make sure that everyone (Rui, all of our clients and I) are on the same page.

03/01/2008



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2014

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2013

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2012

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  • St Joe Company
  • Learning from Pain

2011

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  • Make a Buck with Fortescue Metals Group
  • Berkshire Hathaway Look Through Earnings
  • St Joe Company Inc
  • Successful Investment Management
  • A Look Into Latin American Market
  • The Mother of all Quarters
  • 2010 Investment year results

2010

  • Fault Lines
  • US Market 2010
  • Berkshire Hathaway Third Quarter 2010
  • The Stock Market 2010
  • Berkshire Hathaway Second Quarter 2010
  • Berkshire Hathaway Performance
  • Long Term Greedy
  • Goldman Sachs
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  • USG corporation
  • Berkshire Hathaway 2009 2010
  • Why Capitalism Works

2009

  • The Lords of Finance
  • The $44 Billion Dollar Train Set
  • Berkshire Hathaway 3rd Quarter 2009
  • Career Risk for Investment Manager
  • Berkshire Hathaway financial statements
  • Berkshire Hathaway Preferred Stock
  • Moral Hazard
  • Credit Default Swap
  • The Shadow Banking System
  • Learning Things the Hard Way
  • Our C-System
  • 2008 Investment results

2008

  • Investment Risk
  • Bear Markets
  • Generational Events
  • Orange sheets – Money is doing better
  • Inflation Not The Problem
  • Tipping Point
  • Long Term Capital Management
  • Financial Insurance
  • Western Refining Inc
  • Berkshire Hathaway Year To Date
  • Berkshire Hathaway Cash Flow
  • 2007 investment results

2007

  • Investment results 4th Quarter 2007
  • Greenspan on Inflation
  • Berkshire Hathaway Third Quarter 2007
  • Berkshire Hathaway Operating income 2007
  • Berkshire Hathaway Hedge Fund
  • Leveraged Buyouts
  • Stability Unstable
  • Weak Dollar
  • Berkshire Hathaway Chairman’s Letter
  • Steel Dynamics
  • Breakwater Resources
  • 2006 Investment year results

2006

  • New Investment Stocks
  • Equitas
  • Berkshire Hathaway Third Quarter 2006
  • Hurricane Synergy
  • Berkshire Hathaway Second Quarter 2006
  • Fat Pitch
  • Perfectly Obvious
  • Berkshire Hathaway Growth Rate
  • Berkshire Hathaway First Quarter 2006
  • Berkshire Hathaway Annual Report 2006
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2005

  • Exogenous Events
  • The Easy Money
  • Look-Through Earnings
  • High-Risk Mortgages
  • Unintended Consequences
  • Rydex Ursa Fund
  • Warren Buffett Premium
  • Private Equity
  • Latticework Mental Models
  • Buffett’s Lackluster Performance
  • 2004 Investment year results
  • Professor Smith’s Second Bubble

2004

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  • Risk Assessment
  • Too Many Bears
  • The Chinese Century?
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  • Timber
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  • Physics Envy by Charlie Munger
  • Asset Allocation Berkshire Hathaway
  • The Balance of Payments
  • 2003 Investment year results

2003

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  • Secular Bear Market
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  • A Different Drummer
  • Costco’s Float
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  • Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting 2003
  • Psychology of Human Misjudgment
  • Sitting on the Sidelines
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2002

  • Insurance company Moats
  • Bond Bubble
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  • The Bear Market 2002
  • Greenspan Put
  • Second Quarter Cash Flow at Berkshire Hathaway
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  • Stupid FED Tricks
  • The Bottom Line
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2001

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  • Buy and Hold? – It all Depends
  • Ben Laden and Berkshire Hathaway
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2000

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