[pinky1417]

First, as other posters have mentioned, there are b shares that trade in the hundreds of dollars - BRK.B. Yes, their voting rights are disproportionately lower, but you can still get a stake in the ownership without having $400,000 in your bank account.

I own B shares. It doesn’t bother me that I have fewer voting rights because I trust my fellow Berkshire owners. So there’s little barrier to entry in merely owning a small stake in Berkshire’s economic output.

Second, if you want to argue there’s a barrier to entry for voting purposes, that also doesn’t make sense: you need to have a ton of ownership in any stock to make a difference in ownership as an outside investor. It doesn’t matter if the share price is $1 million or $10 if I need $50 million in share value to make a dent in voting.

Third, Buffett has stated that he doesn’t want to split shares because he wants to encourage long-term owners. There’s a lack of liquidity in A shares; I’ve heard usually only about 1,200 trade a day. He, and I’m sure many other Berkshire shareholders, want their fellow shareholders to think like long-term owners of a private business, especially for shareholders with a lot of voting influence. A high share price and its corresponding low liquidity encourages that.

[LorenPechtel]

It's not a matter of trusting one's fellow Berkshire owners. It's a matter of keeping power in the hands of those he trusts to follow his strategy. I trust his running of the company far more than I trust my fellow shareholders (I also own some BRK.B.)

[john_alan]

Yep I agree. It’s to keep out the GME crowd.