Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letters 1979
Warren Buffett's 1979 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter, one of his most philosophical. He introduces the "investor's misery index" how inflation and taxes can erode real returns even when a business is thriving and confesses a rare mistake, the Waumbec Mills textile acquisition, with the memorable lesson that "turnarounds seldom turn." He makes a detailed case against long-term bonds during high inflation, closing with "neither a short-term borrower nor a long-term lender be," and lays out his now-famous philosophy on shareholder communication, using Phil Fisher's restaurant analogy to…
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