he's buying up all these companies, pretty soon he gonna have a...um...uh...i can't think of the word

Who?

Picture of their CEO:

Feldspar Q. Walrustitty: In other news, BRK.B is supposed to undergo a 50 to 1 split soon, which will price it in the low $60 range and allow losers like us to get in on the action.

How much money do the folks who already have the shares get for that?

I love Warren Buffett. If more people were focused on the long term investment mindset, this country would begin its climb out of the morass we are in.

Rock on, Warren.

Snarky Acronym: mesohorny: worst investment evar. the railroad industry isn't exactly growing.


should have invested in electric cars or air powered ones.

Not sure if serious...but no one is likely to be building a new railroad anytime soon. And railroads are the most fuel efficient method of moving cargo (except for a pipeline) that there is. So if diesel prices go up, truckers are going to have to charge more for long haul as opposed to RR's which won't take as big a hit on increasing energy prices.

Not only that, but now is a bad time in the rail industry. About 1/3 of rolling stock is sitting idle, waiting for the economy to pick up. Once it does, the rail companies will increase revenue and profits rather substantially; now is a great time to buy.

Additionally, if we start talking about environmental initiatives, the railroads stand to gain immensely. It's MUCH more efficient to move freight by rail than by truck. Not only are we likely to see this in increased fuel fees (as said) that will push shippers to rail, but it also involves highway funds- the government usually doesn't bother keeping up rail infrastructure (cheaper for the .gov), and it will take pressure off an already strained highway system.

It is looking like BKW did their homework and is getting not a bad deal on this. They already own a fair amount of Union Pacific too, so I'd expect other groups to be looking at getting into the other railroad companies as well. It may well become a trend.

2chris2: Warren Buffet doesn't run the companies he buys. His Berkshire Hathaway holding company owns lots and lots of companies, which he allows other people to run who actually know a lot about the particular industries the company deals with.

He buys good, well run companies, and then makes no changes whatsoever in them.

THIS. He is an investor in the true sense of the word. He knows better that to mess with what works. He makes only one demand of the operators of his companies when he buys it: Tell me what I need to do if you were to leave/die.

i wonder which group of Communist Chinese investors will buy the U.S.A.???

lol lusers.