86 years old, I was just thinking the same thing. His "long game" can't be as long as it once was, he hasn't much time left. Sometimes it makes you wonder if these old investors will take one final swing for the fence!

BNSF and all the railroads are hurting right now.

The coal market, booming just a couple of years ago, has practically dried up.

Continued low oil prices are killing the industry, too.

Sure, it's cheaper to run the locos, but it's also cheaper to run trucks. And it's also cheaper to import foreign oil to East Coast ports at these prices than to extract and transport domestic oil across the country, especially with the more stringent standards for tank cars after several high-profile accidents.

And the green light for the two big oil pipelines will see hundreds of idle tank cars parked on sidings, along with the empty coal hoppers that are there now.

So, one wonders if that is why Mr. Buffett is looking at other transportation sector options.

Being originally from Omaha and a Berkshire share holder, I think Buffett has a lot of time left. Even if he doesn't, Berkshire as a company will be just fine. They've started preparing for the inevitable and the business will go on.

It's going to be SWA. Largest domestic carrier, free cash flow, solid financials, he loves Herb, etc etc.

Buffet doesn't buy companies to turn them around, he buys companies that are already stable.

Well that leaves out B6

Maybe. But there are only two western US railroads; BNSF and Union Pacific. Eliminating 50% of the rail capacity from seaports such as Long Beach, Houston, and Seattle would be significant. I'm not saying AA isn't significant but DAL/UAL/WN/NK/Alaska, etc could shift routes and planes far easier than the railroads can.

If Warren Buffet can't afford it, who can?
Lol

Berkshire Hathaway has $84 Billion dollars in cash.

Market Caps for airlines:
AA $24Bil
DL $37Bil
UA $24Bil
WN $35Bil

They could offer double the current market price for any of the Big 4 and still have Billions left over without having to take on any financing debt to make the purchase.

If they were willing to take on a small amount of debt, then Berkshire could buy all 4 of them.

Any inputs from the NetJet guys? Rumor had it things went south there in '08 after Buffet hired Dave Sokol to run it(?). In fairness, was it more a result of the 08-09 market crash? Business jet travel would have been the first among discretionary spending accounts to be slashed? I recall NJ pilots got a nice contract (teamsters? '07?). Did Buffet own it then too? Honest questions.

Thoughts?