I waked up this morning, and was surprised to find my net worth dropped by over 40 grand overnight. Yes, the broad market was down, but not to this magnitude! Are we back to the Lehman Brothers days?
Then I realized what happened. January 21 was the date when the B shares of Berkshire Hathaway underwent a split of 50-for-1. My 12 shares of the conglomerate led by the Sage of Omaha is now 600 shares, and my personal accounting software was not smart enough to pick that up.
Stock split is technically a net-zero event, but as USA Today concluded, the split of one of the most expensive stock on the market makes it a tad easy to invest with the Oracle:
Even at $3,500, the typical individual investor probably couldn't buy many B shares of Berkshire. After the split, shares of Berkshire will be more accessible to investors with only a few hundred dollars to invest, says David Ikenberry, professor of finance at the University of Illinois.
Not to be overdone on stock price, Warren Buffett still keeps the A shares of Berkshire Hathaway intact. The A shares are trading hands at $108,850 apiece. Only if I can afford to keep one such six-figure A share in a diversified portfolio!