S&P outperforms Berkshire for second straight year

The benchmark S&P 500 stock index, with dividends reinvested, jumped by 17.6% this year, compared to a 2.4% increase for Berkshire Hathaway's Class A shares. (Without dividends, the S&P is up 16.3%.)

The 15.2 gap in percentage points is smaller than last year's 20.5 deficit, but otherwise larger than any year since 2009.

Berkshire's 2020 in Buffett Watch links

January

• Buffett sells Berkshire's newspaper business in rare admission of defeat

February:

• Crypto-skeptic Buffett gets his first bitcoin at a long-delayed meal
• Berkshire adds Kroger and Biogen, cuts back on Goldman and Wells
• Buffett's three-hour live interview on "Squawk Box"

March:

• Buffett's "difficult" but "obvious" annual meeting decision

April:

• Munger explains why Berkshire's not doing big deals right now

May:

• At annual meeting, Buffett admits mistake on airline stocks and sells
• Annual meeting highlights: Bullish on America, bearish on airlines
• Buffett dumps almost entire Goldman Sachs stake

June:

• Buffett's Apple bet hits jackpot but OXY is another story

July:

• Berkshire's bullish $10B gas deal

August:

• Bank of America stock buys hit $2 billion
• Berkshire sells $7 billion of financial stocks

September:

• Snowflake win may be sign of good things to come at Berkshire

October:

• Berkshire pays fine over subsidiary's secret sales to Iran

November:

• In with health care, out with banks

December:

• COVID cancels "Woodstock for Capitalists" ... again

Who stole Warren Buffett?

That's what Gorat's Steak House in Omaha, where the real Buffett sometimes dines, is asking about the cardboard photo version of Buffett that, until recently, stood inside the restaurant.

As NBC affiliate WOWT-TV reports, Gorat's is asking for help finding the "two delinquents" who "kidnapped" the cutout that "for years ... has greeted patrons ... posed for photos with fans, and watched over his favorite steakhouse."

It even posted security camera video of the incident.

So far as we know, cardboard Buffett is still missing.

BUFFETT AROUND THE INTERNET

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BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH

BERKSHIRE'S TOP STOCK HOLDINGS - Dec 31, 2020

Berkshire's top holdings of disclosed publicly-traded U.S. stocks by market value, based on today's closing prices.

Holdings are as of September 30, 2020 as reported in Berkshire Hathaway and New England Asset Management's 13F filings on November 16, 2020.

The full list of holdings and current market values is available from CNBC.com's Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS

Please send any questions or comments about the newsletter to me at alex.crippen@nbcuni.com. (Sorry, but we don't forward questions or comments to Buffett himself.)

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Happy New Year!

-- Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch