So $8.6 billion invested in-- $8.5 billion invested in fixed capital. Working capital investment is more modest, $827 million.You have some receivables.
to say, OK, what's the relationship between capital spending and depreciation. Or if working capital is a problem, why are their receivables going up? Or why is their inventory going up?
And one of the ways we do that, and one of our biggest focuses is to really invest in creating what we call the co-learning and co-working capital of the world. This doesn't mean we have tons and tons of co-working spaces.
We've made loans that have impacted over a million people, improved their lives. These are working capital loans, small loans to very poor people, 93% women, has a 98% repayment rate. We have a volunteer program where our team members can go participate in it.
They could buy it for 30 or 40 cents on the dollar for what it just went to auction for. How well does it convert its working capital and fixed assets into earnings?
So it's really like a jumping off point for to do further research if you see something that's wrong. And then he'd take your net working capital , he'd multiply that by 66% of that.
This EVA income statement is unique for its own two reasons. Now you'll notice that it does not expense investment in working capital , at least not immediately. What it does expense directly is intangibles like R&D, money that you spend on patents.
And their argument is that the GAAP income statement which we see here in the center, it doesn't tell you how much cash is coming in and out of a company. And so a better measure is one that takes into account investment in fixed and working capital . So let's look at that Alphabet's results for 2015.
So it's really like a jumping off point for to do further research if you see something that's wrong. He would buy companies that were selling at 2/3 of their net working capital .
They could buy it for 30 or 40 cents on the dollar for what it just went to auction for. on tangible capital. And that just means every business needs working capital .
A CEO has a pile of capital. It's in the form of the assets of the company, the working capital of the company, et cetera. You know, the cash.
And then you pay for the fuel 30 days after the plane has landed. So it's a negative flow business, in the sense that you don't need even working capital . And so he went about advertising, and got the staff hired, and got everything going,
We were talking-- you were alluding to it, I think, before you began the talk. And Buffett says, OK, well, you should get your working capital down, or you've got too many fixed assets, or whatever.
It had not been practiced, but that pond has gotten a little over-fished. So today, while it's important to know the technical skills, to know the accounting, to know things like the net working capital , and to think about price earnings ratios a price to book value ratios, and have the series of quantitative metrics that would tell you something is cheap,
And did all of the work ourselves. The problem there, though, is it left us, end of the day, we had about 25,000 dollars for working capital to start the business. Which, if the business had failed, in the first month, then it would have, we wouldn't have known what to do.