Warren Buffett sticks to business, avoids politics in letter

(AP) — Investors who wanted billionaire Warren Buffett to address the current state of the world in his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders will likely be disappointed, but they can still take some comfort in his consistently rosy long-term outlook for the U.S. economy.

Without mentioning Trump's immigration policies, Buffett did note that "a tide of talented and ambitious immigrants" played a significant role in the country's prosperity.

Investment manager Cole Smead said he felt that Buffett spent too much of the letter extolling Berkshire's virtues instead of talking about how he'll approach investing the company's $86 billion cash or what went wrong with the failed $143 billion bid for Unilever that Berkshire took part in with 3G Capital.

To prove his point, Buffett recounted the first nine years of a 10-year bet he made in 2008 that an S&P 500 index fund would outperform a collection of hedge funds that the money managers who own Protege Partners LLC picked.

Berkshire already owns more than 90 subsidiaries, including Geico insurance, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, BNSF railroad, clothing, furniture and jewelry companies.