$BRK.B · The Motley Fool · 2026-10-30

Berkshire is buying Costco. Who would say no? Yes, Charlie Munger's heirs and descendants will all create a public relations storm. One minute. Dad spent a lot of his life trying to convince Warren Buffett to buy Costco, to buy more of Costco, and famously Warren Buffett balked and missed out on one of his best investment opportunities in my opinion.

His, that is, Charlie Munger's, heirs will object to this. Other than that, I think it's not a bad deal, a good deal to expand the scope of the business. It has become very difficult for Berkshire to turn its business around these days.

We've heard about some really interesting purchases they've made under new management , but I question whether any of it will really bring in that kind of profit. On the other hand, Berkshire is getting a little exciting again.

For example, its share price has increased. This seems like an active company. So, maybe making deals is something that will attract investors. There is a sense that Warren was a little slack in his willingness to make deals.

So, I think this idea is pretty good. Jason, what do you think? Not at all. Tony James won't let this happen. The chairman of COSCO has been the chairman for almost 10 years , and has been with the board since the eighties.

If there's one thing about Cosco that's so magical, it's their management skills. They are really amazing, amazing directors, aren't they ? They know their business. They know their customers.

And the problem is, if you look at the state of Berkshire after they buy any business, they become bad managers. The profit rate decreases. Great cash flow, but yeah. And all that cash flow ultimately ends up on Berkshire's balance sheet.

Yes. And I wish Greg Abel would take $ 100 billion of that $370 billion in cash and send it back to the operating companies and say, "Guys, you can modernize, you can improve, you can fix things."

Let's get our profile back. I know. Dairy Queen now has an AI person you talk to when you go through the drive-thru. They only make mistakes 30 percent of the time, you know. This is this is an improvement.

Costco will be destroyed —I know it's heresy, but if Berkshire owns Costco,

It has become very difficult for Berkshire to turn its business around these days. We've heard about some really interesting purchases they've made under new management, but I question whether any of it will really bring in that kind of profit.

On the other hand, Berkshire is getting a little exciting again. For example, its share price has increased. This seems like an active company. So, maybe making deals is something that will attract investors.

There is a sense that Warren was a little slack in his willingness to make deals. So, I think this idea is pretty good.

And the problem is, if you look at the state of Berkshire after they buy any business, they become bad managers. The profit rate decreases. Great cash flow, but yeah. And all that cash flow ultimately ends up on Berkshire's balance sheet.

Yes. And I wish Greg Abel would take $100 billion of that $370 billion in cash and send it back to the operating companies and say, "Guys, you can modernize, you can improve, you can fix things." Let's get our profile back.

if Berkshire owns Costco, it will be destroyed. It's going to be like Dairy Queen. Hey Berkshire, just buy the stock. Perhaps this is a good move.

One last word about Berkshire. I mean, the flip side of that is they let operators be operators. Maybe they don't invest as they should or give clear instructions on how capital should be allocated, but I like the fact that they leave businesses pretty much to themselves after they buy them. But they don't pay them enough.