Watchlist Weekly: The Best of the Week Ending August 15, 2025
Links and thoughts for the week; Berkshire's Q2 moves.
In Case You Missed It: Boston Beer Q2 Update & Valuation
Farnam Street Podcast With Ryan Peterson of FlexPort
This entire podcast is great. I enjoyed the Berkshire/Munger geek-out at the end, including lessons from Peter Kaufman.
BRK Fruit of the Loom Competitors Merging
Gildan is buying Hanes for $4.4 bn (enterprise value). Berkshire doesn’t disclose much about FOL since it’s such a small part of the empire, but there have been clues that it’s struggled along with the industry.
The GE, Sears, and Kraft Heinz Mishaps, Explained
My friend
(←subscribe) has a great short post about the commonalities between three failed/struggling enterprises. “Put it all together, and my conclusion is basic: If a business is not paying attention to what customers need, then the losses are inevitable.”Berkshire’s Q2 Stock Moves (WSJ)
The biggest news out of the Q2 reveal is a new position in United Health (big in a relative sense of being new but relatively small at just $1.5 billion) and the sale of 20 million Apple shares. The Apple sale reduces Berkshire’s position by 7% to 280 million shares. It remains the largest position in the portfolio, worth $65 billion. Berkshire also revealed increased stakes in homebuilders.
This week in Berkshire History
Surprisingly, nothing of note (that I’m aware of) in Berkshire’s history from August 9 to the 17th.
That’s it for this week. Hit reply and let me know what you think. What have you been reading that’s worth sharing? Let me know in the comments.
Stay Rational!
Adam
