pitch unfairly

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Berkshire Hathaway, 1965. Pitched unfairly, 2026.

One number, one yardstick, and the mistakes left in. Same story, same numbers. Rebuilt the way we'd pitch it today.

Template: Results report and letter to owners

  • 19.7% a year since 1965
  • S&P 500: 10.5%
  • 1 dividend, in 1967
Play the 2026 deck Read the real story Steal the structure
1965 Results report and letter to owners

Berkshire Hathaway

One number, one yardstick, and the mistakes left in.

Legend
Original craft
Unfair

The story→11 slides

It's a live deck. Press start, then scroll or use the arrow keys, or play it full screen.

Play the 2026 deck

Berkshire Hathaway's results report and letter to owners, slide by slide

Every slide opens the live deck right where it is.

  1. Berkshire Hathaway deck, slide 1: A results report, written plainly. 01A results report, written plainly.
  2. Berkshire Hathaway deck, slide 2: 61 years at 19.7% a year. The S&P did 10.5%. 0261 years at 19.7% a year. The S&P did 10.5%.
  3. Berkshire Hathaway deck, slide 3: We beat the index in 40 of 61 years. 2025 was not one. 03We beat the index in 40 of 61 years. 2025 was not one.
  4. Berkshire Hathaway deck, slide 4: Insurance carried 2025. The weather helped. 04Insurance carried 2025. The weather helped.
  5. Berkshire Hathaway deck, slide 5: Every mistake here is ours. Each one has a price. 05Every mistake here is ours. Each one has a price.
  6. Berkshire Hathaway deck, slide 6: A dollar we keep must become more than a dollar. 06A dollar we keep must become more than a dollar.
  7. Berkshire Hathaway deck, slide 7: Written down in 1983. Still the house rules. 07Written down in 1983. Still the house rules.
  8. Berkshire Hathaway deck, slide 8: Praise by name, criticize by category. Here are the names. 08Praise by name, criticize by category. Here are the names.
  9. Berkshire Hathaway deck, slide 9: After sixty years, the letter has a new author. 09After sixty years, the letter has a new author.
  10. Berkshire Hathaway deck, slide 10: Write it for two smart readers outside finance. 10Write it for two smart readers outside finance.
  11. Berkshire Hathaway deck, slide 11: Expect smaller numbers. Expect the same letter. 11Expect smaller numbers. Expect the same letter.

Then · 1965

How it really went

Read the real storyBerkshire Hathaway's letters to shareholders, 1977 to today
  1. Opens on one table: per-share results against the S&P 500, every year since 1965
  2. The year's operating earnings, business by business, in plain English
  3. Owns the mistakes by name, his own, with the cost
  4. Explains insurance float and capital allocation as if to his sisters
  5. Praises managers by name, criticizes by category
  6. Restates the Owner's Manual: partners, per-share value, little debt
  7. Ends with an invitation to Omaha for the annual meeting
  8. From 2026, a new author: Greg Abel signs the letter

Now · 2026 · 11 slides

What we changed

  • Scrub sixty-one yearsDrag through every year of the real per-share table: the lines compound on a log scale, the gap strip turns gray in the 21 years Berkshire trailed, and 2025 is one of them.
  • A ledger of mistakes, pricedNine confessions from the letters, from an eighth of a point in 1964 to Pilot, filtered by did, passed and waited, each with the cost the letters put on it.
  • Memo modeThe whole report as a one-page letter, opening "Dear Doris and Bertie". One click rewrites it as an earnings call, which is the argument for writing plainly.
  • Weather gets creditEvery line of the good year is marked earned or luck. A year with no U.S. hurricane landfall goes in the luck column.

Steal the structure

Build your results report and letter to owners like Berkshire Hathaway did.

  1. 01 The number Lead with one result and the yardstick it is measured against, over the longest honest period.
  2. 02 The record Show every period against that yardstick, misses included, so the reader can check the claim.
  3. 03 What went well, and why Name the wins and sort each into earned or luck.
  4. 04 Mistakes, owned List the errors with dates and costs, in the first person, with what you took from each.
  5. 05 Capital allocation Rank where money (or effort) goes, and the test each use has to pass.
  6. 06 Will and won't Restate the standing principles, including the ones that cost you.
  7. 07 The people Praise by name, criticize by category; tell one story that shows the culture.
  8. 08 Changes at the top Say plainly who now runs what, and what stays the same.
  9. 09 The letter Write the whole report as one page for a smart reader outside your field.
  10. 10 What to expect Set expectations for next year, lower ones included, and say when you will report again.

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