First, a big bulk of Berkshire value is not in public companies. They are valued at 500B, their cash + public stocks are half of that.
Even if you look only their public stocks, Berkshire has certain advantages compared to individual investor.
They can buy a huge amounts of stock from pension funds with a discount to the market price. These kind of deals usually happen outside of public market so that the price din’t fluctuate due to the deal.
Also, individual investor can’t buy a public railroad company in its entirety. Berkshire did exactly that and continues to reap value from that deal, while individual investors of the said railroad company were forced to cap their long-term upside to the deal price.
Even if you look only their public stocks, Berkshire has certain advantages compared to individual investor.
They can buy a huge amounts of stock from pension funds with a discount to the market price. These kind of deals usually happen outside of public market so that the price din’t fluctuate due to the deal.
Also, individual investor can’t buy a public railroad company in its entirety. Berkshire did exactly that and continues to reap value from that deal, while individual investors of the said railroad company were forced to cap their long-term upside to the deal price.