Welcome to Becoming Berkshire.

If you’ve ever wondered how Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger built Berkshire Hathaway, enjoy business history, or are curious about how great business leaders make decisions and allocate capital over the long term, pull up a seat.

Becoming Berkshire is my self-directed MBA.

I’ve already attended law school, and I can’t afford to go back to business school. So instead, I created my own curriculum.

I’ve always been fascinated by how companies get started, the inner workings of financial bubbles, and the boardroom drama behind some of the biggest decisions in business history.

Becoming Berkshire is where I share what I’m learning along the way.

What this publication is about

At its core, Becoming Berkshire is about two things:

1. The Berkshire Timeline

This is the heart of the publication.

I’m working through Berkshire Hathaway’s history one year at a time, studying how Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger built the company brick by brick.

Along the way, I revisit the shareholder letters, annual meetings, investments, acquisitions, mistakes, and major turning points that made Berkshire what it is today.

2. Business Histories

I’ve always been fascinated by how great companies get started and how they survive difficult periods.

Some of these companies became part of Berkshire Hathaway. Others crossed paths with Buffett or Munger. And some simply help tell the broader history of American business and the stock market.

If you’re new here, this is the best way to explore the publication.

The Berkshire Timeline

Start in 1962 if you want the clearest expression of what Becoming Berkshire is all about.

This series follows Berkshire Hathaway’s evolution one year at a time, tracing the investments, acquisitions, shareholder letters, and decisions that shaped the company.

It is meant to feel like a long-form, self-directed education in business history, investing, and capital allocation.

Business Histories

I’ve always been fascinated by how great companies are started, built, and transformed.

These pieces explore the founders, products, strategies, financial battles, and boardroom drama behind some of the most important companies in American business history.

Some became part of Berkshire Hathaway. Some crossed paths with Buffett or Munger. Others simply help explain the broader history of business and the stock market.

Who this is for

Becoming Berkshire is for those who love studying business. It is for those who believe that studying great businesses makes us better investors.

Mark Twain once said that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. As you study the history of the stock market, how Berkshire Hathaway was built, and the companies it interacted with along the way, you begin to see parallels between what happened then and what is happening now.

In many ways, everything happening today has happened before in one form or another. Companies have always had to reinvent themselves. Competition has always emerged from unexpected places. Management teams have always had to make difficult capital-allocation decisions.

Intel’s history, for example, is a story about constant reinvention, technological change, and new competitors attacking from different directions. Those same forces are shaping businesses today.

If you enjoy studying how Buffett and Munger built Berkshire Hathaway, how great companies were created, and how the history of business can help us become better investors, Becoming Berkshire is for you.

Why become a paid subscriber?

Becoming Berkshire takes an enormous amount of time and research.

For each year in the Berkshire Timeline, I try to read every available letter written by Warren Buffett, every Berkshire Hathaway annual report, and the public filings of the companies Berkshire invested in or acquired.

Depending on the year, I may also study the sitting president, decisions made by the Federal Reserve, important figures in the stock market, or the history of a prominent business that helps explain what was happening at the time.

For the Business Histories, I may read an entire book, or several books, along with decades of annual reports, shareholder letters, interviews, and other primary sources to understand how a company was started, built, and transformed.

The focus will always remain on Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, and the prominent businesses that shaped their story. But none of that history happened in isolation. Understanding the wider world helps explain why Buffett made certain decisions and how Berkshire became Berkshire.

This is one of the most difficult and rewarding projects I have ever taken on. It requires a tremendous amount of time and effort, and it is supported by my paid subscribers.

If you enjoy Becoming Berkshire and want to help me continue researching and telling these stories, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your support makes this work possible, and I am incredibly grateful for it.

— Jay