Buffett upbeat about future despite trailing S&P

OMAHA, Neb. — Billionaire Warren Buffett is confident that Berkshire Hathaway will be a mainstay of the U.S. economy for the next 100 years, regardless of whether it sometimes underperforms bull market runs, like it did last year.

In his annual letter to shareholders released Saturday, Buffett didn’t disclose any new information on Berkshire’s plans for succession once the 83-year-old someday leaves the helm. But he emphasized that the company he’s led for 49 years is built on a “rock-solid foundation” and will endure long after he’s gone.

“A century hence, BNSF and MidAmeri- can Energy will still be playing major roles in our economy,” Buffett wrote. “Insurance will concomitantly be essential for both businesses and individuals — and no company brings greater human and financial resources to that business than Berkshire.”

“Think of all the admired investors out there. How many ever refer to something they owned or investments they’re making and talk about how well they’re going to be doing a century from now?,” says Bill Smead, founder of Smead Capital Management.

In 2013, Berkshire spent roughly $18 billion to buy NV Energy and about half of foodmaker H.J. Heinz, and paid $3.5 billion to buy out the rest of two manufacturing firms, Marmon and Iscar. Subsidiaries committed to spend $3.1 billion on 25 other smaller acquisitions.

Berkshire now sits on roughly $48 billion in cash and owns 8½ businesses big enough to be part of the Fortune 500 if they were separate companies.

“Only 491½ to go,” Buf- fett quipped.

Buffett said he and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger will continue to look for other investments and acquisitions that allow them to bet on the future of the American economy.

“Charlie and I have always considered a bet on ever-rising U.S. prosperity to be very close to a sure thing,” Buffett wrote.