Richard Losch of Losch Management put together a nifty little list of Berkshire's acquisitions from 1986.

This is not a perfect list. It is just the best that I could piece together from my annual reports. You will see a lot estimates about prices. These estimates are based on what I remember and what I could guess from the Cash flow Statements. Any corrections or additions will be greatly appreciated.

The Total for cash deals through 2005 is about $17 Billion and the total of $24 billion in stock deals is of course mostly GenRe. The Total for noninsurance deals is about $17 Billion and Operating profit for this segment has grown from $200 million to $4 billion so the return on invested capital would be over 20%.

Even thought the table goes back 20 years most of the action has been in the last ten years, and if you ignore the insurance deals that brought in GenRe and GEICO most of the action has been since 2000. The momentum is definitely building with the deals getting bigger and more frequent. There are already five deals that are probably worth more $10 billion in the works for this year so it is already the biggest year for cash deals. A deal for an additional $15 Billion if it happens, would make 2006 a huge year.