Adam Mead: 850 Pages Of Berkshire: What The Numbers Don't Tell You | Why Trust, Conviction, And Liability Management Matter More Than Spreadsheets

About this episode

Adam Mead discusses his extensive work on Berkshire Hathaway and the importance of trust and management in investing.

Adam Mead is a professional investor, CEO of Mead Capital Management, and author of the 850-page second edition of The Complete Financial History of Berkshire Hathaway — one of the most exhaustive chronicles of Warren Buffett’s conglomerate ever written. Episode Sponsor: Fiscal AI is a modern data terminal that gives investors instant access to twenty years of financials, earnings transcripts, and extensive segment and KPI data—use my link for a two-week free trial plus 15% off: https://fiscal.ai/talkingbillions/ 3:00 – Adam explains why a second edition was necessary: the pandemic, Apple’s rise to 50% of the portfolio, Allegheny and Pilot acquisitions, Japanese trading houses, losing Charlie Munger, and Buffett’s retirement 5:58 – Berkshire’s underlying philosophy hasn’t changed — it’s the world that changed; living through history feels more intense than researching it on the page 8:25 – Why Buffett sold the airlines: as largest shareholder, Berkshire could have blocked bailout funds, putting the airlines’ survival at risk 11:28 – New investment cases rhyme with the past; patient capital allocation works; $72B in share repurchases between 2020–2024 was the real “elephant” 15:22…

People in this episode

Host: Bogumil Baranowski

Guest: Adam Mead

Topics covered

• Berkshire Hathaway
• investment strategy
• financial history
• Warren Buffett
• capital allocation
• succession planning

Keywords

• Berkshire Hathaway
• Warren Buffett
• investment
• financial history
• capital allocation
• succession
• Charlie Munger

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Mead Capital Management, Berkshire Hathaway, Fairfax, BNSF, BHE, MSR

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