Warren Buffett has sought to reassure Berkshire Hathaway shareholders that he would always prefer owning businesses, after his move to dump stocks and the lack of a big acquisition helped drive the group’s cash pile to a record high last year.
In his annual letter to shareholders, released on Saturday, the billionaire investor said he would “never prefer ownership of cash-equivalent assets over the ownership of good businesses”, a category that also includes the stakes Berkshire owns in US blue-chip companies.
The 94-year-old’s decision to address the cash pile, which hit $334.2bn at the end of last year, comes as record valuations have dented the appeal of US stocks and also made it harder for Buffett to unearth the major deals that have long been his trademark.