Every Year Joyfully Awaited.

No matter when someone became a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder, the latest letter is always a good introduction to the world of the company. Each year, Warren Buffett describes what is the essence of Berkshire and all the letters of the past decades can be found on the Berkshire website. Packed into ever new narratives, he explains the two categories of investments. Read more in the current letter starting on page 3:

1. wholly owned subsidiaries of Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshire selects the respective CEOs who are responsible for day-to-day management.
2. passive equity interests in publicly traded companies.

What can we investors learn from this? Buffett emphasizes that they are not stock-pickers. That is, not trying to find the next hot stock. Rather, they are business-pickers. This is an important distinction. After all, future profits depend on business success and not on short-term changes in the share price.

This philosophy is reflected in Gutmann's stock selection. It is not the frantic buying and selling that is decisive for us in the Chief Investment Office, but the long-term investment in the right company. Does the business model have competitive advantages that will become stronger over time, is the management capable and has integrity? If these cornerstones are in place, the share price will follow the positive development over time.