Kass Katch: 11 Reasons to Short Berkshire

Updated from 10:35 a.m. EDT.

"The investor of today does not profit from yesterday's growth." -- Warren Buffett

I have worshiped at the altar of Warren Buffett since the late 1970s -- ever since an investor and acquaintance, Conrad Taft, introduced me to his investment methodology and style at Berkshire Hathaway(BRK.A Quote). Indeed my writings over the last seven years have often been punctuated with Buffett-isms. I have repeatedly objected to, scoffed at and refuted criticisms of Buffett's strategy on this site and elsewhere.

That said, the rationale behind avoiding/shorting Berkshire Hathaway's common stock must be segregated from my respect/worship of the greatest investment icon of the last half century.

Berkshire Hathaway's beginnings were as humble as Warren Buffett has remained today. Its birth took place when he began to acquire the shares of Berkshire Hathaway (nee Berkshire Spinning and the Hathaway Manufacturing Company) in the early 1960s. His initial investment performed poorly but provided a platform for unprecedented growth through a series of well-timed acquisitions of publicly held companies. Berkshire stands, with a market value of about $200 billion, as the sixth largest company in the U.S. -- behind ExxonMobil(XOM Quote), General Electric(GE Quote), Procter & Gamble(PG Quote), Microsoft(MSFT Quote) and AT&T(T Quote). ...