1999 was a bad year for Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA) (NYSE: BRKB).
Its book value per share increased by a measly half a percentage point
Its stock price tanked 20%. Meanwhile, the dot-com-fueled S&P 500 climbed 21%. It was the worst relative performance in any given year that Warren Buffett managed the company.
While Buffett took the blame for Berkshire’s significant underperformance, he also expressed confidence that his company would “modestly exceed” the benchmark index over the next decade. Buffett might have been too modest. Over the next decade, from the date Buffett published his 1999 letter to shareholders (March 3, 2000), Berkshire Hathaway stock returned 176%.