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Warren Buffett hasn't made an "elephant" megadeal since before the pandemic

03 May 2021
 Dan Ackermann

Warren Buffett doesn't have much use for unicorns, instead building his Berkshire Hathaway empire by hunting for the sort of asset-heavy megadeals that he calls "elephants."

Driving the news: Berkshire hasn't fired a shot from its elephant gun in quite some time. Not even last spring, when many thought it would become the bailout partner of first resort, much like the role it played in 2008.

  • Yes, Berkshire did pay $10 billion for Dominion Energy's gas transmission and storage business last July, but that's still a small deal by its standards.
  • It reports having over $145 billion in cash at the end of March.

What happened: Buffett over the weekend said that his spring 2020 inaction was partially due to rapid and robust government intervention — from both the Fed and Congress — and his own caution over how the pandemic would play out.

  • He also noted worry that Berkshire's presence could have caused government to delay aid to specific companies or sectors, which is why he sold out of airlines at a loss.
  • Buffett and Charlie Munger also cited the influence of SPACs. That one didn't ring terribly true, since Berkshire should be playing in a bigger league than the vast majority of SPAC mergers.

The bottom line: Buffett has said the elephant deals make his "heart beat faster." But he's still sitting on stable, as the broader merger market's EKG machine is spiking.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.