The Mint named Berkshire Hathway

  •   Mon, Dec 15 2025
  •   By David Pinto Prabhu

December 15, 2025

We all have heard the name Buffett, Warren Buffett. Those who have not heard the name as yet, you have missed many things on how to make money just by doing nothing. Yes, Buffett created a net worth of 150 billion USD for himself by not doing anything much. He made money making sound simple. All he did was invest right and then sit tight. And he did this not only for him but rather for the 3 million shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway too. Hang on? What on earth is Berkshire Hathaway? Well, you hang in, I’m yet to discuss the brain behind Buffett’s wealth. The name is Munger, Charlie Munger.

We all know the name Warren Buffett for his famous quotes and the charitable causes that he runs. For someone, including me until a few years ago, my assumption was that Buffett invested his personal funds and built a huge fortune for himself. Well, the fact is something else. Buffett had the lady luck of meeting a talented geek, a brilliant expert on legal matters, a billionaire yet a simpleton, named Charlie Munger. Charlie was no stranger to the House of Buffett. He had worked in Warren’s grandfather’s grocery store during his childhood days. The working shift was 12 hours for a daily wage of 2 USD. I sincerely hope and trust that the Chairman Emeritus is not reading this!

Somewhere in the late 1960’s, Warren & Charlie (W & C) decided not to manage funds directly of investors and hence wound up their respective partnership firms which were into managing funds of their clients. Yes, the same thing that I do for a living, Wealth Management. W & C resolved to build equity through stock ownership in a holding company. Charlie’s firm Wheeler, Munger was also getting liquidated and the shares got converted into Blue Chip Stamps & Diversified Retailing which in turn got converted to Berkshire Hathaway (BH) stock in 1975. Meanwhile, Warren was buying shares from the open market at 7.50 USD and his share in BH had risen to 7% by 1964. His original plan was to sell this at a higher rate and profit from the stake he held. Some argument on the pricing of the suggested sale of his stake in BH led him to own more later. BH was a textile company then.

Warren eventually got control over the company and then started buying out stakes of other companies and in some cases even acquired a few. The companies which came under his radar ranged from Insurance, Railroads, Utilities & Energy, Manufacturing, Services & retailing sectors. BH also invested in companies from the open market. Such investments from the open market did not have a controlling stake, but had lots of money doled on them. BH has 45 billion USD worth of American Express, 30 billion USD in Bank of America 26 billion USD in Coca Cola just to name a few.

So, what started off as a textile firm, Berkshire Hathway was then converted into a conglomerate and is now an investment fund. Warren is the largest shareholder at BH with a stake of 38.4%. From the time Warren gained control of BH in 1965 till 2023, BH’s share price has delivered an astonishing CAGR of 19.8% against the benchmark return of 10.2%. A 19.80% return for 58 years in a country like the US where the average interest rate has been 5% for the same period deserves a Nobel Prize for sure. Today BH has crossed a market capitalisation of 1 trillion USD and is the only listed company in this coveted league which is a non-tech company. Something to cheer for the non-AI fans.

And the brain behind all the acquisitions and investments was none other than Charlie, an expert in legal matters and he had an eye for detail. A quick decision maker and extremely conscious of the time he spent on what activity. I urge the readers to read the book Poor Charlie’s Almanack, by Peter D. Kaufman for more insights on this legend.

If BH was a company that displayed how capital can be used effectively to generate more capital, other industrial families of the US like Rockefeller, Vanderbilt had demonstrated the same in the Oil industry and Railroad industry respectively. Japan had their own Mitsubishi and others in their keiretsu. Korea through its chaebols, Samsung, LG, Hyundai. India is on a similar journey that has begun well. With conglomerates like Tatas’, Ambanis’, Adanis’, Murugappa group, Godrej group, Bajajs’, Jindals’, Hindujas’ and many such business houses have now embarked on a massive capex drive after stabilizing themselves. As per the NAFA conglomerate index which covers 162 listed companies belonging to the top 20 business houses, the top 20 houses collectively command a market cap of Rs 136.7 Lk Crs, 29% of the total market cap. It is twice the size of the entire PSU universe. A shift from PSU led capex to Private enterprise led capex is what India is witnessing today. A big beneficiary has been the defence sector.

The capex of the top 20 business houses is growing at 11% CAGR for the past 6 years and profits at 19% CAGR. India’s Amrit kaal has begun and it is happening right from these 20 business houses. Can we reach the league of Berkshire Hathaway, Rockefeller, LG, Mitsubishi? The answer is a resounding yes. We in India just need to reclaim what was ours. A 40% share in the World GDP during the rule of Cholas, in 900 A.D. Many looters in the guise of colonisers have stripped this land of its wealth and yet we rise again. The fastest growing economy now needs to reclaim its title of the largest economy.

 

 
By David Pinto Prabhu
David Pinto Prabhu, Partner at Fisdom Private Wealth, is on a mission to simplify the clutter surrounding the dynamic nature of investments. He has over 20 years of experience in the field of investments. After starting his career with ING Investment Management (2004), he moved to J P Morgan Asset Management (2008), and was heading South India for its institutional business. He holds a PGDM degree from St Joseph’s College of Business Administration, Bengaluru, and a B Com degree from St Aloysius College, Mangaluru, where he is currently based. David can be contacted on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/david-pinto-29037a33 and Email: davidcasmir@gmail.com.
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