Berkshire Hathaway 1978 Letter to Shareholders

This full consolidation of sales, expenses, receivables, inventories, debt, etc. produces an aggregation of figures from many diverse businesses -…

With that preamble it can be stated that, with or without restated figures, 1978 was a good year. Operating earnings, exclusive of capital gains,…

For example, over the last three years - generally a bonanza period for the insurance industry, our largest profit producer - Berkshire’s per share…

In contrast to this cautious view about near term return from operations, we are optimistic about prospects for long term return from major equity…