PacifiCrop
For the past several years, Berkshire Hathaway had been unsuccessful in identifying attractive acquisition opportunities. In 2001, Buffett addressed the issue head-on in his annual letter to shareholders:
Some years back, a good $10 million idea could do wonders for us [witness our investment in the Washington Post in 1973 or GEICO in 1976]. Today, the combination of ten such ideas and a triple in the value of each would increase the net worth of Berkshire by only 1/4 of 1%. We need "elephants" to make significant gains now-and they are hard to find.