What if you bought Berkshire Hathaway in 2000?
US Finance · Holding. The hindsight answer, year by year, against the only benchmark that matters.
Could you have picked it? Play12.5× · S&P 500 same money: $4,626
$1,000 in Berkshire Hathaway at the start of 2000 would be worth about $12,500 today — 12.5 times your money, and ahead of the S&P 500 over the same stretch.
The story
Berkshire Hathaway, the former textile mill that Warren Buffett turned into a conglomerate, owns insurers such as GEICO and General Re, railroads, utilities, Dairy Queen and a large portfolio of public stocks. The prices here are for the more affordable B shares. In 1999 and early 2000 Buffett was mocked for sitting out the tech boom, and the stock lagged badly; when the bubble burst, that caution looked like genius.
The 2008 crash hit Berkshire's shares too, but the company put its cash to work: it supplied capital to Goldman Sachs and General Electric on generous terms and agreed to buy the railroad BNSF outright, completed in 2010. Its later masterstroke was a huge position in Apple, built from 2016, which grew into its largest holding. The company paid no dividend and accumulated a vast cash pile, a quiet bet that bargains would eventually appear. In 2025 Buffett announced he would step down as chief executive at year-end, handing the role to Greg Abel. Few large stocks have offered such steady compounding with so little drama.
The lesson: Being willing to look foolish during a mania, and keeping cash for the moment others are forced to sell, is a durable source of returns.
$1,000 invested at the start of each year
| Bought in | Price then | Worth today | S&P 500 would be | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | $40.00 | $12,500 | $4,626 | 12.5× |
| 2003 | $48.00 | $10,417 | $7,727 | 10.4× |
| 2005 | $59.00 | $8,475 | $5,763 | 8.5× |
| 2007 | $73.00 | $6,849 | $4,789 | 6.8× |
| 2008 | $94.00 | $5,319 | $4,626 | 5.3× |
| 2010 | $66.00 | $7,576 | $6,071 | 7.6× |
| 2012 | $76.00 | $6,579 | $5,312 | 6.6× |
| 2015 | $150 | $3,333 | $3,301 | 3.3× |
| 2018 | $198 | $2,525 | $2,519 | 2.5× |
| 2020 | $226 | $2,212 | $2,092 | 2.2× |
green = beat the S&P 500 · red = lost money
Best entry point in our set: 2000, turning $1,000 into $12,500. The S&P 500 from that same year: $4,626.
On this day
- 14 February 2013: Berkshire and 3G buy Heinz
- 28 February 2009: Buffett's letter: beware of geeks bearing formulas
- 10 May 1965: Warren Buffett takes control of Berkshire Hathaway
- 30 August 1930: Warren Buffett is born in Omaha
Now try it without hindsight. The wheel decides the year and the asset class, you pick the position, ten seconds a pick, and we simulate to today. Berkshire Hathaway is one of 258 positions on the wheel — including the ones that went to zero.
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