Warren Buffett Proves He's Human After All

"[I]f you wait for the robins," he warned, "spring will be over."

Still, as equity and equity-index prices dropped with a thud, Berkshire holdings have suffered too. Even the company's best-performing stock, Anheuser-Busch (BUD), comes with some bad news.

The King of Beers' stock has shot up significantly this year as the Budweiser-brewer mulled a take-over bid from foreign competitor InBev (IBV). The protracted negotiations ended in July when Anheuser accepted a sweetened offer of $70 per share. But unfortunately, Berkshire sold some 21.7 million Anheuser shares during the second quarter, when the stock traded in a range of $46.72 to $62.99. That means the company left at least $152 million -- and as much as half a billion dollars -- on the table.

On the other end of the spectrum lies Berkshire's stake in newspaper publisher Gannett (GCI), whose performance has been the most dismal of all its stocks. Gannett's shares have tumbled nearly 80% this year as the print-media industry struggles with rising costs and a readership that is rapidly flocking to alternative sources of news.

Luckily for Berkshire, Gannett comprises just a tiny fraction -- 0.08% -- of its portfolio. But even one of its top holdings, Coca-Cola (KO) has fallen 25% as the market left nearly no stock unpunished. Berkshire's 200 million shares of the beverage-maker make up about 15% of its entire stock portfolio.

Berkshire Hathaway invests in safer, value stocks and has made some very large, high-profile investments this year in major players like Goldman Sachs (GS) and General Electric (GE), on what seem to be very lucrative terms. The company infused $8 billion worth of cash into the two companies, in exchange for preferred stock with 10% dividends, and warrants to buy up to 43.5 million Goldman shares at $115 apiece, and 134.8 million GE shares at $22.24 apiece.