Investing Legends

Warren Buffett's 1978 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter, the first written after merging with Diversified Retailing Company. He explains why return on equity, not earnings per share, is the real measure of a good year, and lays out his case for buying small pieces of great businesses through the stock market, highlighted by a deep dive into SAFECO Corporation and his argument for "passive participation in excellent management." He also covers the strong insurance underwriting results led by National Indemnity, the struggling textile operation, the Illinois National Bank, and Associated Retail Stores under Ben Rosner. A must-listen for fans of Warren Buffett, value investing, and Berkshire Hathaway's early history.

The final chapter of the Buffett Partnership, told through five letters from 1969 and 1970 as Warren Buffett wound the partnership down and returned capital to his partners. He explains why he's retiring — bargains gone, the market too speculative, his own motivation shifted — and personally recommends Bill Ruane as an alternative money manager. He walks partners through their choices: take cash, or keep their proportional stakes in his two controlled companies, Berkshire Hathaway and Diversified Retailing, which he clearly intends to hold for the long term. The episode closes with his candid case for tax-free bonds over stocks at that moment, and a plain-spoken primer on how to buy them.

Warren Buffett's 1968 annual letter, capping his best year ever — up 58.8% against the Dow's 7.7%, a result he waves off as "a freak, like picking up thirteen spades in a bridge game." He skewers the era's collapsing "go-go" funds and the mania for minute-by-minute money management, breaks down where the year's gains came from across his four categories, and delivers the line "Price is what you pay; value is what you get" while updating his controlled companies Berkshire Hathaway and Diversified Retailing. He warns that good ideas are now at an all-time low, and closes with a nostalgic look back at the partnership's twelve-year rise from $105,000 to over $104 million.

Warren Buffett's mid-1968 letter to partners. The partnership rose 16% while the Dow was essentially flat. He updates his growing family of controlled businesses — Berkshire Hathaway, National Indemnity, Hochschild Kohn, and Associated Cotton Shops — and their capable operators. But the heart of the letter is his warning about "The Present Environment": a speculative "chain-letter" mania fueled by "bold, imaginative accounting," which he predicts history will look back on as a bubble. He admits his own results have indirectly benefited from the frenzy even as it dries up genuine bargains, and points partners to Adam Smith's The Money Game for a portrait of the era.

Warren Buffett's 1967 annual letter. The partnership gained 35.9% against the Dow's 19.0%, yet Buffett is uneasy: in a runaway speculative market where nearly every fund beat the Dow and some doubled, he warns that "we continue to eat oatmeal" rather than chase the frenzy. He breaks down a lopsided year — his worst-ever result in work-outs, a huge 72% gain in undervalued generals driven by his American Express stake (now being sold down), and steady progress in his controlled companies, where he folds in new acquisitions National Indemnity and Associated Cotton Shops. He also addresses the fallout from October's lowered goals, reassuring partners the partnership is "definitely not" winding down.

Warren Buffett's mid-1967 letter to partners. After a rough January, the partnership finished the half up 21% against the Dow's 11.4%. Buffett names Diversified Retailing and Berkshire Hathaway as his controlled companies — and candidly warns that Berkshire's textile business faces real difficulties and won't earn a good return, dragging on relative performance in a rising market. He shares his tax philosophy ("Don't worry about the income; just the outcome") and previews a special October letter that will revise his "Ground Rules" — the coming moment where he lowers his ambitions and redefines success for the partnership.

Warren Buffett's tenth-anniversary letter, covering 1966. The partnership gained 20.4% while the Dow fell 15.6% — its widest margin ever, 36 points — capping a decade that turned $105,100 into a $54 million partnership. But Buffett strikes a cautionary note: the flood of bargain ideas that fueled the early years has slowed to a "trickle," and those results won't be repeated. He breaks down where 1966's gains came from across his four categories, defends his heavy concentration in a single dominant holding, and reaffirms that he won't chase "fashion" investing or businesses beyond his understanding.

Warren Buffett's mid-1966 letter to partners. In a falling market — the Dow down 8.7% — the partnership still gained 8.2%, and Buffett shows how the eight largest companies in the world lost 16.6% over the same stretch. He draws a sharp line between true conservatism (losing less when others lose) and mere "conventionalism," announces his first outright purchase of a whole business, the Baltimore department store Hochschild, Kohn, and delivers a pointed defense of ignoring market forecasts — pointing partners to Benjamin Graham's chapter on treating market swings as opportunity rather than instruction.