Inside Warren Buffett’s personal portfolio: The skinny on the Omaha Oracle’s dividend strategies

Warren Buffett earns millions of dollars of dividend income every quarter even though Berkshire Hathaway Inc., his insurance and investment company, has never made a payout.

The money comes from the billionaire investor’s personal holdings in other U.S. companies, as disclosed in Berkshire’s quarterly filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission since 2006. The latest filing showed that he had multimillion- dollar stakes in 10 companies as of Dec. 31.

The chart of the day (download here), shows the total amount of quarterly dividends that he was due to receive, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The calculations assume he kept his shares through the date of record for the next payout.

Payouts to Buffett peaked at an estimated $15.5 million a quarter, judging by his publicly disclosed stakes as of Sept. 30 and Dec. 31, 2008. Last year, they tumbled as much as 44 percent as U.S. Bancorp and Wells Fargo & Co., two of his holdings, cut dividends. The fourth-quarter figure was $10.8 million.

Buffett’s portfolio at the end of 2009 included shares of three companies — Exxon Mobil Corp., General Electric Co. and United Parcel Service Inc. — in which Berkshire and its units weren’t invested. Ingersoll-Rand PLC, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Foods Inc., Procter & Gamble Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. were also among his personal stakes. The filings don’t show his non- U.S. investments or holdings of securities besides stocks.

Dividend income helps explain why Buffett only receives $100,000 a year in salary at Berkshire, according to Robert P. Miles, the author of “Warren Buffett Wealth.” Miles wrote about him last week in an article on Morningstar Inc.’s Web site.