4 ms·
That's a good one, but Berkshire had earnings of $40M in 1981[1]. I couldn't do better than the 1980 numbers for IBM ($3.5B)[2] and GE ($1.5B)[3] but safe to sa
by twoodfin 4y ago
That's a good one, but Berkshire had earnings of $40M in 1981[1]. I couldn't do better than the 1980 numbers for IBM ($3.5B)[2] and GE ($1.5B)[3] but safe to say in that era they dwarfed BH.
My point is that it would have been extremely difficult for any giant conglomerate adapted to the business environment of 1981 to transition successfully to the business environment of 2021 without changing nigh unrecognizably.
[1] https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1981.html https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1981.html
[2] https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/01/16/IBM-reports-sharply-higher-4th-quarter-earnings/5135348469200/ https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/01/16/IBM-reports-sharply-...
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/23/business/ge-had-small-gain-in-quarter.html https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/23/business/ge-had-small-gai...