updraftplus domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home/aonyeani76/cryptocurrencypanther/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131hustle domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home/aonyeani76/cryptocurrencypanther/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131wpforms-lite domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home/aonyeani76/cryptocurrencypanther/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131Warren Buffett has again increased its stakes in the 5 large trading firms in Japan where Berkshire Hathaway had a 7.4% stake.
American multinational conglomerate holding company Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK) has increased its stake in a few trading firms in Japan through a wholly-owned subsidiary, National Indemnity Company. The average stake in these firms is over 8.5%.
Berkshire Hathaway announced that National Indemnity Company now has more stakes in Mitsubishi, Marubeni, Sumitomo, Itochu, and Mitsui. According to the firm, the total value of its stake in these companies is higher than the total value of its stake in any other country but the US. The company also said it will hold these stocks for the long term.
Berkshire Hathaway invested in 5 of Japan’s largest trading companies. Also called “sogo-shosha”, these general trading companies are large Japanese companies dealing in a diverse range of products. Other major sogo-shosha companies include Toyota Tsusho, a member of the Toyota Group, and Sojitz Corporation.
In April, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett told CNBC he was “confounded” that buying into these companies was possible. Speaking to CNBC’s Becky Quick, Buffett said the earnings yield on these companies was “maybe 14%”. The earnings yield is a metric calculated by dividing profit per share by share price. A high earnings yield simply means that investors were making more per share.
Berkshire Hathaway first bought stakes in Japan’s Sogo Shosha in August 2020, spending around $6 billion on the purchase. In April, Buffett raised the stake to 7.4%. Explaining to Becky Quick, he said:
“I just thought these were big companies. They were companies that I generally understood what they did. Somewhat similar to Berkshire in that they owned lots of different interests. And they were selling at what I thought was a ridiculous price, particularly the price compared to the interest rates prevailing at that time.”
Investors generally criticize the sogo shosha for the unusual complexity of their operations, including exposure to overseas risks. However, Buffett seems unbothered by this and may be investing in these companies for this particular reason.
In its earnings release for Q1 2023, Berkshire Hathaway climbed nearly 13% year-on-year, mostly from its insurance business. The company’s net earnings per average equivalent Class A and Class B Shares both jumped by 544% between Q1 2022 and 2023.
Automobile insurance company Geico, a wholly-owned Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary, recorded $703 million in profit. However, Berkshire’s energy and railroad endeavors plunged. The first quarter of the year also saw Berkshire repurchasing $4.4 billion worth of stock, beating its previous $2.8 billion record.
Last year, Berkshire offloaded its shares in Chinese electric automaker BYD (HKG: 1211). The company dumped 1.33 million BYD shares worth $34.43 million at the time. For a long time, Berkshire was one of BODY’s largest shareholders, holding more than 220 million shares for over 14 years.
As of 2021, Berkshire Hathaway held 21% of BYD. However, the company began selling off its BYD stake and now owns under 10% of the automaker. Speaking at Bekrshire’s annual shareholder meeting, Buffet said he was unwilling to “compete with Elon”, referring to Elon Musk-led automaker Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA).
Tolu is a cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiast based in Lagos. He likes to demystify crypto stories to the bare basics so that anyone anywhere can understand without too much background knowledge.
When he’s not neck-deep in crypto stories, Tolu enjoys music, loves to sing and is an avid movie lover.
A JP Morgan report published this month has revealed that stablecoin issuers such as Tether (USDT), Circle, and other stablecoin firms controlled more Treasury bills compared to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. As of May this year, different stablecoin providers owned approximately $80 billion in short-term U.S. government debt in total.
By gaining a considerable share in the United States Treasury market, the Stablecoin issuers have left behind key traditional players recently. At the end of June, Warren Buffet increased his company’s exposure to Treasury bills to $75B from $58.5B at the beginning of this year. Even after this hike, Berkshire’s T-bill investments are less than the leading stablecoin providers.
Stablecoin’s market cap is nearly $151.29B, and a large portion of its support comes from T-bills.
Warren Buffet is a renowned investor, business magnate, and the world’s seventh wealthiest person. The billionaire has gained widespread popularity and fame because of his investment strategy called Value investing.
In Value investing, investors invest in shares of those companies whose share price is trading lower than their intrinsic Value. This investment strategy is based on the belief that though the stocks are currently undervalued on account of any favorable or unfavorable news, but their share price will rise in the future.
Value investors invest in stocks of those companies with solid and long-term fundamentals, good business models, attractive P/E ratios, sound balance sheets, and good dividend payment history.
The billionaire investor is known for making cutting remarks on Cryptocurrency as well as Bitcoin.
Buffet sees Bitcoin as an unproductive asset, and he once went to the extent of calling it a “probably rat poison squared.” Recently, the 91-year-old investor grabbed headlines when he said he would not consider buying even all the Bitcoin in the world for $25 because it produces nothing.
It seems that the legendary investor is never going to stop hating Cryptocurrency.
The presented content may include the personal opinion of the author and is subject to market condition. Do your market research before investing in cryptocurrencies. The author or the publication does not hold any responsibility for your personal financial loss.
Bitcoin
The bitcoin price has crashed under $20,000 per bitcoin, down from almost $70,000 late last year, and dragging down other top ten cryptocurrencies, including ethereum, BNB
Now, Warren Buffett’s right-hand man Charlie Munger has warned people to “never buy” bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies—branding those in the crypto industry “either delusional or evil.”
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Legendary investor Warren Buffett (L), the chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, and vice chairman … [+]
“Crypto is an investment in nothing,” Munger, the vice-chairman of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway
Both Munger and Buffett have previously railed against bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, comparing the crypto market to a casino.
“I think anybody that sells this stuff is either delusional or evil,” Munger said, adding: “I’m not interested in undermining the national currencies of the world.”
The price of bitcoin, ethereum and other major cryptocurrencies have plunged in recent weeks, wiping more than $2 trillion from the combined crypto market and sparking a wave of bankruptcies, mass layoffs and the collapse of some projects, such as the terra stablecoin and its support coin luna.
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The bitcoin price has been hovering around $20,000 per bitcoin in recent months after a brutal … [+]
At Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder in April, Buffett explained his long dislike of bitcoin, attributing it to bitcoin not producing anything tangible—unlike companies or property. His comments led to Tesla
Buffett has previously called bitcoin a “delusion” and “rat poison squared.”
Bitcoin is not topping the list of the favorite investments of some big names in the financial sector. One of those is billionaire Warren Buffett who has not been shy to voice his displeasure with the digital asset. This time around, Buffett has once again made known his hatred for the digital asset by saying that he would not buy all of the BTC in the world for $25. This has drawn the ire of investors in the space, one of which is Mexico’s third-richest man, Ricardo Salinas Pliego.
Warren Buffett Disses Bitcoin
Billionaire and legendary investor Warren Buffett recently made some remarks about bitcoin. The most popular of these have been the fact that he said that if he were offered all the bitcoins that exist for a measly $25, he still wouldn’t take the deal.
The Berkshire Hathaway head said this at the annual shareholder meeting where he once more reiterated his disdain for cryptocurrencies. He explained that bitcoin had nothing to offer, making it an unproductive asset with no tangible production.
Related Reading | Tether (USDT) Q1 Trading Volume Plunges To $5.3 Trillion In Quarterly Low
He compared the digital asset to other stores of value which include land and apartments. Both of these, the billionaire admitted he would jump at a chance to put money into them. However, he wouldn’t do the same for bitcoin because it doesn’t produce anything and he would “have to sell it back to you one way or another.”
Despite the popularity of the digital asset over the years, the billionaire is still not convinced of its valuability. He pointed to the fact that he can’t tell for sure where the asset will be in the next five or 10 years but remains completely sure of the fact it does not produce anything.
“It’s got a magic to it and people have attached magics to lots of things,” Buffett noted.
Buffett’s comments about bitcoin have no doubt stirred up criticism from the bitcoin community. They came out en masse to support and fire back at Buffett after the video made the rounds on social media. Bitcoin supporter and Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego also took time out to rebuke Buffett’s comment.
BTC holding the $36,000-$38,000 support level | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
Salinas noted that Buffett was old and immune to change. Also adding that he was obviously commenting that he has no understanding of whatsoever.
It’s sad to see him rambling on about a suubject he clearly does not understand. That’s why the future ALLWAYS belong to the young and not the OLD. https://t.co/2L5Lc8zHjE
— Ricardo Salinas Pliego (@RicardoBSalinas) May 1, 2022
Related Reading | Bitcoin Halving Model Suggests $24,000 Bottom Before Year’s End
The billionaire has not been the only one to fire back. Others have pointed out that Buffett continues to have holdings in crypto-friendly bank Nubank, as well as SBI Holdings and Bank of America which own more than 10% of Ripple and a Ripple partner respectively.
BTC continues to maintain a good position on the charts. It is currently trading at $38,690 at the time of this writing.
Featured image from Bitcoin News, chart from TradingView.com
Tesla
“Haha, he says ‘bitcoin’ so many times,” Musk responded to a clip of the famed value investor on Twitter
Warren Buffett and his right-hand man, Berkshire Hathaway’s vice chairman Charlie Munger, both used the company’s annual shareholder meeting on Saturday to repeat their well-known derision of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
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Elon Musk, the Tesla billionaire who added bitcoin to the company’s balance sheet last year, has … [+]
“Whether [the bitcoin price] goes up or down in the next year, or five or 10 years, I don’t know,” said Buffett, explaining his long dislike of bitcoin due to it not producing anything tangible—unlike businesses or property. The bitcoin price has struggled in recent months, falling around 40% from its all-time high of almost $70,000 per bitcoin.
“If you told me you own all of the bitcoin in the world and you offered it to me for $25 I wouldn’t take it because what would I do with it? I’d have to sell it back to you one way or another. It isn’t going to do anything.”
Meanwhile, Munger told Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholder meeting, sometimes call Woodstock for capitalists, “in my life, I try to avoid things that are stupid and evil and make me look bad … and bitcoin does all three.”
Both Buffett and Munger have previously railed against bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and the recent Robinhood-fueled stock market trading boom that they’ve likened to a casino.
The bitcoin and crypto community has responded to Buffett’s bitcoin criticism with hatred of its own. Last month, libertarian tech investor Peter Thiel called Buffett bitcoin’s “enemy number one” during a tirade against what he called a “finance gerontocracy” that was looking to lock cryptocurrencies out of the mainstream during a bitcoin conference in Miami last month. Thiel branded Buffett a “sociopathic grandpa from Omaha.”
Meanwhile, Musk has continued to signal his support for bitcoin challenger dogecoin, a tongue-in-cheek, meme-based cryptocurrency that rocketed up the crypto charts last year thanks to support from Musk and other big-name investors. The dogecoin price has lost a lot of ground since its May 2021 highs, however, crashing around 80%.
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The dogecoin price soared almost a year ago thanks to support from Elon Musk and other high-profile … [+]
“Not a bad idea,” Musk responded on Twitter to dogecoin co-creator Billy Markus who in turn had voiced his support for a suggestion by celebrity investor Mark Cuban to use dogecoin to authenticate Twitter users and reduce the amount of bot-driven spam on the site.
“We add an optimistic roll up to doge,” Cuban posted. “Everyone puts up one doge for unlimited posts. If anyone contests a post and humans confirm it’s spam, they get the spammer’s doge. Spammer has to post 100x more doge. If it’s not spam, the contestor loses their doge.”
The dogecoin price has rallied somewhat over the last month, climbing off recent lows thanks to Musk’s successful move to take Twitter private. Dogecoin
Major crypto prices blasted higher this week.
The bitcoin price is up 20% from its February low. Ethereum’s price has risen 14%, BNB 13%, cardano 5%, XRP 41%, and solana 8% over the month.
Meanwhile, the “Sage of Omaha”, Warren Buffett, is quietly coming around to crypto. A recent Berkshire Hathaway filling reveals it dumped shares in legacy financials Visa and Mastercard and sank $1 billion into a crypto-friendly neobank.
For the world’s biggest crypto critic, that’s a big change of heart. In 2020, he said: “cryptocurrencies basically have no value and they don’t produce anything,” adding “I don’t have any cryptocurrency and I never will.”
Buffett’s U-turn hints at a critical point in institutional crypto adoption that could put a rocket under crypto demand (and prices) in the coming years.
Bitcoin price
Zooming out
Buffett began investing in the 1940s and his stock-picking skill has generated a personal fortune of well over $100 billion. The modern-day Midas and his sidekick Charlie Munger believe in `value investing`, i.e., finding attractively-priced nuggets overlooked by other investors.
In the past both Buffett and Munger have ridiculed bitcoin. Buffet described it as “rat poison squared” and Munger argued that trading in cryptocurrencies is “just dementia”.
Buffet hasn’t invested directly in bitcoin but has tripled Berkshire Hathaway’s investment in Nubank, the largest fintech bank in Brazil that’s big among bitcoin investors. And obviously, you wouldn’t bet on a company leveraged to crypto if you weren’t bullish on it.
As Greg Waisman, Co-Founder and COO of crypto wallet service Mercuryo, commented: “The Nubank investment can be tagged as Buffett’s way of supporting the fintech/crypto world without taking back his criticisms of the past.” Waisman added that the Berkshire boss is now backing the “digital currency ecosystem indirectly.”
Moreover, Buffet is not the only big investor to have a change of heart.
For example, Lloyd Blankfein, a former Goldman Sachs CEO who has voiced scepticism about cryptos in the past, recently said that his view on crypto is “evolving.”
The fact that these icons of the investment world now believe in cryptos will likely persuade even the most reluctant of big institutional investors to take another look, potentially turbocharging demand.
Potentially big tailwind
The increasingly positive attitude of institutional investors suggests bitcoin is entering the mainstream and can challenge gold as a modern store of value and haven.
As I discussed last year, dethroning gold has been one of the biggest narratives driving the price of bitcoin in the past two years:
“There’s $650 billion worth of bitcoin out there. Meanwhile, investors hold at least $2.7 trillion in gold, according to the World Gold Council. If, say, they moved just a bit more than 20% of their gold holdings to bitcoin, the cryptocurrency could double or more.”
Later I wrote: “2022 is set to deliver the biggest hawkish monetary reversals in the past decade, and bitcoin will finally answer the most important question: after 13 years, is it still a speculative asset? Or has it worn off on investors as a safe haven?”
This question is going to be one of the most fundamental bitcoin drivers in the near term. If bitcoin matures as a stable asset class, ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood believes $1m by 2030 is possible, arguing it “represents only a fraction of the value of global assets amid increasing adoption each year”.
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