Look-through Earnings

Buffett has not commented on look-through earnings for a few years, perhaps because the earnings from the equity holdings are much smaller portion of total earnings than they used to be. In 1997 look-through earnings were $743 million, but in that year they would have represented 38% of the total of earnings from operations. The total remained flat from 1997 to 2003 as Buffet was selling on balance, but recently has been increasing rapidly as Buffett has been adding to his equity position.

In the tables attached shares held is the number of shares held by Berkshire as reported on form 13F for the period Indicated. This means that there some positions missing. Foreign securities not traded in this country are not registered with SEC and so will not appear of the 13F. Where a position in a foreign security has been revealed (Petrochina) we will it include it in our list. This is, of course, based on the assumption that the stock has not been sold which could be incorrect. There is current several billion in equities that are not listed on the 13F so the figures listed below are most likely less that the actual figures.

Undistributed earnings equal reported earnings for the year minus any dividends that were actually paid. This is because dividend income received by Berkshire Hathaway during the year is reported as investment income. For a detailed list of investees, distributed; and undistributed earnings for the last four years, click on the year in the table below

Look-through Earnings

Year	Total Undistributed Investee Earnings	Undistributed Earnings Per "A" Share
1997	$743,000,000	$602
2002	$929,411,330	$606
2003	$868,090,499	$565
2004	$1,061,080,987	$690
2005	$1,415,294,000	$918
2006	$1,884,423,456	$1,222

Dividend Income

Year	Total Dividend Income
2003	$480,491,899
2005	$877,803,748
2006	$1,235,575,957

Investee Earnings Yield

2006

(Click on year to see itemized list)

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Last modified: March 16, 2008