31 ms·

Yep, he’s really trying to force a barrier to entry. So his stock can’t be bought by small players.

pmorici 5y ago
He created the BRK.B share class years ago and has split that once to keep the price manageable. It stands at 1/1500 of a class A share today. The B shares do have reduced voting rights relative to the A shares on a proportional basis.
loftyal 5y ago
I guess you haven't heard of fractional shares
- john_alan 5y ago
  Lol. You don’t own the share. You don’t get voting rights and the aggregator behaves as a single investor.
  - loftyal 5y ago
    Lol. Some brokers allow you to vote on fractional shares, and technically you don't own the share, but why would they care if you do or not, it's about the voting rights.
pinky1417 5y ago
First, as other posters have mentioned, there are b shares that trade in the hundreds of dollars - BRK.B. Yes, their voting rights are disproportionately lower, but you can still get a stake in the ownership without having $400,000 in your bank account. I own B shares. It doesn’t bother me that I have fewer voting rights because I trust my fellow Berkshire owners. So there’s little barrier to entry in merely owning a small stake in Berkshire’s economic output. Second, if you want to argue there’s a barrier to entry for voting purposes, that also doesn’t make sense: you need to have a ton of ownership in any stock to make a difference in ownership as an outside investor. It doesn’t matter if the share price is $1 million or $10 if I need $50 million in share value to make a dent in voting. Third, Buffett has stated that he doesn’t want to split shares because he wants to encourage long-term owners. There’s a lack of liquidity in A shares; I’ve heard usually only about 1,200 trade a day. He, and I’m sure many other Berkshire shareholders, want their fellow shareholders to think like long-term owners of a private business, especially for shareholders with a lot of voting influence. A high share price and its corresponding low liquidity encourages that.
- john_alan 5y ago
  Yep I agree. It’s to keep out the GME crowd.
- LorenPechtel 5y ago
  It's not a matter of trusting one's fellow Berkshire owners. It's a matter of keeping power in the hands of those he trusts to follow his strategy. I trust his running of the company far more than I trust my fellow shareholders (I also own some BRK.B.)

He created the BRK.B share class years ago and has split that once to keep the price manageable. It stands at 1/1500 of a class A share today. The B shares do have reduced voting rights relative to the A shares on a proportional basis.

loftyal 5y ago

I guess you haven't heard of fractional shares

john_alan 5y ago
Lol. You don’t own the share. You don’t get voting rights and the aggregator behaves as a single investor.
- loftyal 5y ago
  Lol. Some brokers allow you to vote on fractional shares, and technically you don't own the share, but why would they care if you do or not, it's about the voting rights.

pinky1417 5y ago

First, as other posters have mentioned, there are b shares that trade in the hundreds of dollars - BRK.B. Yes, their voting rights are disproportionately lower, but you can still get a stake in the ownership without having $400,000 in your bank account. I own B shares. It doesn’t bother me that I have fewer voting rights because I trust my fellow Berkshire owners. So there’s little barrier to entry in merely owning a small stake in Berkshire’s economic output. Second, if you want to argue there’s a barrier to entry for voting purposes, that also doesn’t make sense: you need to have a ton of ownership in any stock to make a difference in ownership as an outside investor. It doesn’t matter if the share price is $1 million or $10 if I need $50 million in share value to make a dent in voting. Third, Buffett has stated that he doesn’t want to split shares because he wants to encourage long-term owners. There’s a lack of liquidity in A shares; I’ve heard usually only about 1,200 trade a day. He, and I’m sure many other Berkshire shareholders, want their fellow shareholders to think like long-term owners of a private business, especially for shareholders with a lot of voting influence. A high share price and its corresponding low liquidity encourages that.

john_alan 5y ago
Yep I agree. It’s to keep out the GME crowd.
LorenPechtel 5y ago
It's not a matter of trusting one's fellow Berkshire owners. It's a matter of keeping power in the hands of those he trusts to follow his strategy. I trust his running of the company far more than I trust my fellow shareholders (I also own some BRK.B.)