Warren Buffet and Berkshire Hathaway's Investments, 2009

Berkshire Hathaway $1B+ Investment Holdings At Yearend 2009
As is his practice in his annual letter to shareholders, Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett listed the company's common stock investments that at yearend, in this case Dec. 31, 2009, had a market value of more than $1 billion. Click the more link to see the list.
In addition, Berkshire Hathaway owns positions in non-traded securities of Dow Chemical, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, Swiss Re and Wrigley with an aggregate cost of $21.1 billion and a carrying value of $26.0 billion. It also 76,777,029 shares (22.5%) of BNSF at yearend, which were then carried at $85.78 per share, but which have subsequently been melded into Berkshire's purchase of the entire company.

The Oracle's Tips for the Rest of Us
Every few years, critics say Warren Buffett has lost his touch. He's too old and too old-fashioned, they claim. He doesn't get it anymore. This time he's wrong.

It happened during the dotcom bubble, when Mr. Buffett was mocked for refusing to join the party. And it happened again last year. As the Dow tumbled below 7,000, Mr. Buffett came under fire for having jumped into the crisis too early and too boldly, making big bets on Goldman Sachs and General Electric during the fall of 2008, and urging the public to plunge into shares.
Now it's time for those critics to sit down for their traditional three course meal: humble pie, their own words and crow.
On Saturday, Mr. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reported that net earnings rocketed 61% last year to $5,193 per share, while book value jumped 20% to a record high. Berkshire's Class A shares, which slumped to nearly $70,000 last year, have rebounded to $120,000.

Those bets on GE and Goldman? They've made billions so far. And anyone who took Mr. Buffett's advice and invested in the stock market in October 2008, even through a simple index fund, is up about 25%.