Conservative in tone and content, Warren Buffett's annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, awaited every year by the markets to discover the secrets of the "oracle of Omaha", was this 2021 meager in terms of insights, except for his defense of the share buyback strategy he enthusiastically executed in 2020 and in which he invested US$24.7 billion. Not a word on cryptocurrencies, SPAC, bets on stock growth or stock market exuberance. Quite the opposite. It was an ode to value and to the culture of traditional American entrepreneurship that, from the roots of the American Union, has represented "an unparalleled incubator for unleashing human potential," Buffett notes in the letter.

The letter is focused on business and value created in the central U.S. states, in ventures based on individual effort and perseverance, far from the glitz and fuss of analysts and investment bankers on Wall Street and other large urban centers on U.S. shores. "Productive assets such as fields, real estate investment and business ownership produce wealth, lots of it," Buffett says in his letter. "Owners of those assets will be rewarded. They just require the passage of time, inner calm, diversification and minimization of transaction costs and fees," he says. 

2020 was not the best year for Berkshire. With investments in pandemic-exposed companies, it reported a 9% drop in operating income-to $21.92 billion-and a 48% drop in net income-to $42.52 billion.

You can read the full letter at https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2020ltr.pd