Using Retained Earnings to Repurchase Stocks

Berkshire's own reported earnings are misleading in a different but important way, says Buffett. The value to all owners of retained earnings is determined by the effectiveness with which those earnings are used, he writes. If you have owned 0.01% of Berkshire during the past decade, you've done just as well if you had owned 20%. "Accounting numbers are the beginning, not the end, of business valuation"