Shareholders letters & wisdom from Warren Buffett

Buffett is back amidst bloodbath in the stock markets. In his interview to CNBC on 31st March 2026, he shared few insights which he has been doing in his letters to shareholders. In fact, many corporate leaders author letters to their shareholders. However, only few are popular and very few are valued. They include letters from Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway, Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan, Alan Mulally of Ford, Muhtar & James of Coca Cola, Tim Cook of Apple, and Jeff Bezos of Amazon.

Hundreds of books are authored on Warren Buffett of which about 122 are formally catalogued by Open Library. Most of the publications take extracts from his letters to shareholders. The first letter after he acquired full management control of Berkshire Hathaway was in year 1965. He claimed to rely on compounding and intends to achieve 25% in the long-term. Since 1965, his letters continued until 2025. The key insights of 60 Shareholders Letters are summarized as follows.

Economic moats protect returns on invested capital. Stock markets have investors who know price but not value. Future prospects can be projected using fundamental analysis. Investment is most intelligent when it is businesslike. Value creation involves time and patience. Market pessimism presents attractive opportunities for long-term investors. Time is the friend of the wonderful business, enemy of the mediocre. Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) and not Earnings Per Share (EPS) is the better managerial economic performance. Investment is a trade-off between present consumption and future wealth accumulation.

Notable intentions (of company managements) should be checked periodically against results. Berkshire’s favourite holding period is forever. Temporary markdowns in the value of good investments are not uncommon. One should evaluate companies within one’s competence. Nothing sedates rationality like large doses of effortless money. Wit is widely found in his sentences including the following. Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked. It is an iron law of business that words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises – but only performance is reality.

He offered even deeper insights in his admissions which include the following. Berkshire made many mistakes and many businesses have died. Berkshire’s capital allocation decisions all along have been no better than so-so. Berkshire has cost-free capital, huge in volume from insurance business. Endless details are poured by companies in reports, and it is difficult for investors to read. Buffett’s letters ended in February 2025. But sufficient wisdom was already present in his past 60 letters to continue guiding investors including in such war-stuck situations.

-Dr. Kishore Nuthalapati, CFO of BEKEM Infra Projects Pvt Ltd