SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Berkshire Hathaway, the insurance focused conglomerate run by billionaire Warren Buffett, has been sitting on more than $40 billion in cash since 2004.
When stock markets climbed and the housing market soared from the end of the dotcom bust in 2003 to the middle of last year, Buffett struggled to find attractive investments as he followed his own advice of being fearful when others are greedy and greedy when the market is running scared.
Now, as thousands of Berkshire shareholders prepare for their annual pilgrimage this weekend to the company’s headquarters in Omaha, Neb., some are hoping Buffett has the crisis he’s been waiting so patiently for.
Since delinquencies and foreclosures began surging last year, house prices have slumped more than 10% across the U.S. The stock market is down about 9% from its peak in October 2007 and corporate bond spreads have ballooned — a measure of rising risk aversion. Financial-services companies have lost a quarter of their market value and Bear Stearns (BSC:The Bear Stearns Companies Inc
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