BRK: tis, taint

[william the wie]

Berkshire Hathaway has failed to meet a criterion set by Warren Buffett. Since I have heard or read three somewhat different descriptions of the denominator I will simply say that if BRK earnings vs. S&P earnings Dividends reinvested are lacking for five years then a BRK dividend will then be instituted.

I am checking on my own confirmation bias in this thread since I own a January 2015 BRK put I thought I should ask how big of a dip can be expected and whether keeping or breaking the pledge will cause more carnage?

[MENTION=2926]Toro[/MENTION], [MENTION=20854]Zander[/MENTION],

 

[Toro]

Buffett will never instate a dividend.

 

[william the wie]

Buffett will never instate a dividend.

Definitely true about Munger and I suspect you are right about Buffett. The wild card is the extended Graham family and their reflected prestige. If the two guys who discovered and kept secret the Black and Sholes equations for use on warrants 15-20 years before standard options debuted should still be alive and still major stockholders that could be a problem too. But I tend to agree with you. The tax consequences of changing policies would be drastic.

So, what do you think the reputational damage might be from not pulling the trigger and what might it do to the share price?