After Berkshire Hathaway picked up a stake in e-commerce giant Amazon, legendary billionaire investor Warren Buffett rues missing out on buying stake in tech giant Google. Speaking at Berkshire Hathway’s mega AGM, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger noted that one of their biggest regrets was not buying shares of Alphabet Inc, which runs Google. Warren Buffett’s good friend Charlie Munger joked that they were just “sucking their thumbs” and that he felt like a “horse’s ass” for not picking up a stake in Google. “He’s saying we blew it,” Warren Buffett quipped. We bring to you 5 mind boggling figures from Berkshire Hathaway AGM.

5 mind-boggling fugures from Berkshire Hathaway AGM

Berkshire’s burgeoning cash pile

In the latest quarter, despite the mega share buybacks, Berkshire Hathaway has a burgeoning cash pile of $114.2 billion. Answering a question on whether Berkshire would continue to buyback stock, Buffett said that he has “no ambition to spend a dime” on more repurchases, however, if the shares trade at what he reckons to be a discount to the broader market, Berkshire Hathaway could easily spend very substantial sums on more repurchases. “We could do it (buy back $100 billion of Berkshire stock). We will spend a lot of money. We’ve been involved in companies where the number of shares has been reduced 70-80 percent over time,” Warren Buffett said, adding that if the stock gets cheap relative to intrinsic value, he will not hesitate. 

Also read: Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway AGM 2019: Won’t spend another dime on share buybacks unless this happens

Whopping $21 billion in profit

In the first quarter, Berkshire Hathaway has reported a net profit of a whopping $21.7 billion, as compared to a loss of $1.1 billion in the same period previous fiscal. The wild swing can be attributed to a new accounting rule which requires companies to now include changes in the market value of investment portfolios within earnings. “The new GAAP rules …. require that we mark our securities to market and report any unrealized gains. The bottom line figures are going to be totally capricious,” Warren Buffett noted. 

Buffett at 89, Munger 95; what next?

Even as investors continue to find guidance around Warren Buffett’s succession plan, the “Oracle of Omaha” said that he and Munger won’t be around forever. Notably, two longtime executives, Ajit Jain and Greg Abel, had been promoted to vice chairman to help oversee Berkshire’s businesses. OPn Saturday, Warren Buffett hinted that Ajit Jain, who is in charge of the company’s insurance businesses, and Greg Abel, who looks after non-insurance subsidiaries, could one day join him and Munger to answer questions. “This format is not set in stone,” Warren Buffett noted. 

Kraft Heinz a poor deal

According to Berkshire Hathaway’s latest filing the total carrying value of its investment in Kraft Heinz was $13.7 billion, while the fair value based on Kraft Heinz’s share price stands at $10.6 billion. Warren Buffett admitted that the firm paid too much for the deal. “Kraft-Heinz is still doing very well operationally, but we paid too much You can turn any investment into a bad deal by paying too much,” he added.