Yet he said that in the last two years, regulators from the federal government and 25 USA states examined Clayton and its mortgages a total of 65 times, yet this scrutiny has led to just $38,200 of fines and $704,678 of refunds to customers.
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Buffett also talked about how he was finally embracing the 21st century, by deciding to webcast the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting this spring.
Warren Buffett on Saturday used his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway Inc shareholders to launch vigorous defences of an aggressive private equity partner and a maligned mobile home unit, as his conglomerate recorded robust profits.
Buffett did not single out any presidential candidates by name.
Buffett, 85, has run Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire for almost 51 years.
Management delivers “industry-leading performance”, Buffett said. Berkshire Hathaway – which employs more than 350,000 people in the insurance, railroad and many other firms it controls – also holds large stakes in Coca-Cola, IBM and other companies. Buffett also weighed in on the political campaign, pointing to a “negative drumbeat” of discourse.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who won New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s endorsement on Friday, has offered a bleak assessment of the US economy, repeatedly saying it is in a “bubble” that he hopes will pop before he takes office.
“I think these results are pretty good”, Edward Jones analyst Jim Shanahan said.
“That may not sound impressive”, Buffett said.
In his annual letter to shareholders, the billionaire investor – who has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president – wrote that “the babies being born in America today are the luckiest crop in history”. “As a citizen, you may understandably find climate change keeping you up nights.only as a shareholder of a major insurer, climate change should not be on your list of worries”. Operating profit rose 5 per cent to $US17.36 billion, or $US10,564 per share.
Buffett said BNSF significantly improved its service in 2015 after investing $5.8 billion in upgrades to its rail network and equipment. It spent some of it last month when it acquired industrial parts maker Precision Castparts Corp, Buffett’s largest acquisition.
As to succession, Buffett noted his advancing age and that of vice chairman Charlie Munger, 92.
Buffett has long said that Berkshire has a plan to replace him when the need arises, but didn’t mention it in the letter.
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“Mark your calendar”, he wrote.
