Berkshire News Briefs - 2015 Yearly and Q4 Earnings plus Buffett's Letter

Berkshire Hathaway's 4th Quarter and Full Year earnings are out, along with its annual report and Warren Buffett's Annual Letter to Shareholders.

4th Quarter News Release

2015 Annual Report

Buffett's Letter

No time to read all that today? Here are some shorter analysis stories to get you up to speed: Berkshire Profit Climbs 32%, Capping Record Year for Buffett (Bloomberg)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the conglomerate controlled by billionaire Warren Buffett, said fourth-quarter profit climbed 32 percent on investments and earnings from the company’s expanding stable of operating businesses.

Net income rose to $5.48 billion, or $3,333 a share, from $4.16 billion, or $2,529, a year earlier, the company said Saturday in a statement. Operating earnings, which exclude some investment results, were $2,843 a share, beating the average $2,814 estimate of three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. [...]

Buffett Says Politicians ‘Dead Wrong’ With Negative U.S. Outlook (Bloomberg)

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, long an optimist about the nation where he made his fortune, rejected the economic pessimism dominating the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign and forcefully made the case for a bright future.

“As a result of this negative drumbeat, many Americans now believe that their children will not live as well as they themselves do,” Buffett wrote in a letter to shareholders of his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. posted online on Saturday. “That view is dead wrong: The babies being born in America today are the luckiest crop in history.” [...]

Want to ask Warren Buffett your own question? You can tweet questions for his Monday appearance on CNBC:

Legendary Investor Warren Buffett to Join CNBC’s Becky Quick for a Special Edition of “Squawk Box” on Monday, February 29 6AM-9AM ET

On Monday, February 29th, billionaire investor Warren Buffett joins CNBC's Becky Quick for his ninth annual "Ask Warren" appearance in a special edition of CNBC's signature morning program "Squawk Box" (M-F, 6AM-9AM ET). Throughout "Squawk Box," the Berkshire Hathaway Chairman will answer questions submitted by viewers via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and The List App about Berkshire's 2015 annual report, including Buffett's letter to shareholders, among other topics.

To submit questions, use the hashtag #AskWarren on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or The List App. Viewers can also submit video questions by tweeting their clips to @CNBC or sharing videos on Instagram and using the #AskWarren hashtag.