Berkshire's Corporate Performance vs. the S&P 500

  
		        Annual Percentage Change       
                     ------------------------------
		      in Per-Share     in S&P 500
		     Book Value of   with Dividends     Relative
		       Berkshire	Included	Results
	Year	          (1)       	  (2)       	(1)-(2) 
        ----         -------------   --------------     -------
	1965...........  23.8		 10.0 	 	 13.8 
	1966...........  20.3		(11.7)		 32.0 
	1967...........  11.0		 30.9 		(19.9)
	1968...........	 19.0		 11.0 		  8.0 
	1969...........	 16.2		 (8.4)		 24.6 
	1970...........	 12.0		  3.9 		  8.1 
	1971...........	 16.4		 14.6 		  1.8 
	1972...........	 21.7		 18.9 		  2.8 
	1973...........	  4.7		(14.8)		 19.5 
	1974...........	  5.5		(26.4)		 31.9 
	1975...........	 21.9		 37.2 		(15.3)
	1976...........	 59.3		 23.6 		 35.7 
	1977...........	 31.9		 (7.4)		 39.3 
	1978...........	 24.0		  6.4 		 17.6 
	1979...........	 35.7		 18.2 		 17.5 
	1980...........	 19.3		 32.3 		(13.0)
	1981...........	 31.4		 (5.0)		 36.4 
	1982...........	 40.0		 21.4 		 18.6 
	1983...........	 32.3		 22.4 		  9.9 
	1984...........	 13.6		  6.1 		  7.5 
	1985...........	 48.2		 31.6 		 16.6 
	1986...........	 26.1		 18.6 		  7.5 
	1987...........	 19.5		  5.1 		 14.4 
	1988...........	 20.1		 16.6 		  3.5 
	1989...........	 44.4		 31.7 		 12.7 
	1990...........	  7.4		 (3.1)		 10.5 
	1991...........	 39.6		 30.5 		  9.1 
	1992...........	 20.3		  7.6 		 12.7 
	1993...........	 14.3		 10.1 		  4.2 
	1994...........	 13.9		  1.3 		 12.6 
	1995...........	 43.1		 37.6 		  5.5 
	1996...........	 31.8		 23.0 		  8.8 
	1997...........	 34.1		 33.4 		   .7 

Notes:	Data are for calendar years with these exceptions:  1965 and 1966, 
        year ended 9/30; 1967, 15 months ended 12/31.

     	Starting in 1979, accounting rules required insurance companies to 
        value the equity securities they hold at market rather than at the 
        lower of cost or market, which was previously the requirement.  In 
        this table, Berkshire's results through 1978 have been restated to 
        conform to the changed rules.  In all other respects, the results 
        are calculated using the numbers originally reported.

	The S&P 500 numbers are pre-tax whereas the Berkshire numbers are 
        after-tax.  If a corporation such as Berkshire were simply to have 
        owned the S&P 500 and accrued the appropriate taxes, its results 
        would have lagged the S&P 500 in years when that index showed a 
        positive return, but would have exceeded the S&P in years when the 
        index showed a negative return.  Over the years, the tax costs 
        would have caused the aggregate lag to be substantial.