An approach of this kind will force the investor to think about long — term business prospects rather than short — term stock market prospects , a perspective likely to improve results . That is , they usually confer the highest price — earnings ratios on exotic — sounding businesses that hold out the promise of feverish change . Berkshire owns some international companies based in Europe and Japan, but it has always been and remains predominantly US-based businesses. Berkshire wants to own great businesses, but only when paying the right price. Their controlled businesses just continue to churn out cash, which obviously adds to the cash pile if there are no new investments.
Book notes and lessons learnt: “Berkshire Hathaway Letters to Shareholders, 1965–2018” by Warren…
At the time of purchase, Berkshire’s voting interest was limited to 10% of the company’s shares, but this restriction ended when the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 was repealed in 2005. In 1976, Berkshire first invested in GEICO, at a time when it was facing financial difficulty and had a very low stock price. In March 1967, Berkshire acquired National Indemnity Company, based in Omaha, Nebraska, for $8.6 million in the first acquisition by the company under Buffett’s control and the company’s entrance into the insurance business. Instead of selling at the slightly lower price, Buffett bought more of the stock at an even higher price to take control of the company and fire Stanton; Stanton and his son resigned in 1965. At Berkshire we will stick with businesses whose profit picture for decades to come seems reasonably predictable .
Full text of Warren Buffett’s annual letter to shareholders – Economic Times
The county has an area of 1,263 km2 (488 sq mi) and a population of 911,403. Berkshire (/ˈbɑːrkʃɪər, -ʃər/ ⓘ BARK-sheer, -shər; abbreviated Berks.), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a ceremonial county in South East England. In January 2025, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit against Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance, a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary, alleging the company steered borrowers into unaffordable loans. In 2007, the company was named by Barron’s as the most respected company in the world based on a survey of American money managers.
- Where rivers have cut through these beds Lambeth Group layers are found (notably, the Palaeocene Reading Formation, used for brick-making since Roman times but now increasingly scarce in the area after which it was named).
- GEICO, headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, primarily offers private passenger automobile insurance marketed directly to individual consumers in the United States.
- Abel was appointed vice chairman for non-insurance business operations, and Jain became vice chairman of insurance operations.
- I surely would have done a double take if my future self had told me I would take 865 days to finish this thick fat almost 1000 page book.
2 ) The certainty with which management can be evaluated , both as to its ability to realize the full potential of the business and to wisely employ its cash flows ; 1 ) The certainty with which the long — term economic characteristics of the business can be evaluated ; He may even prefer not to know the company’s name . For owners of a business — and that’s the way we think of shareholders — the academics ’ definition of risk is far off the mark , so much so that it produces absurdities . We believe this margin — of — safety principle , so strongly emphasized by Ben Graham , to be the cornerstone of investment success . Second , and equally important , we insist on a margin of safety in our purchase price .
Industry
Market appears daily and names a price at which he will either buy your interest or sell you his . Market who is your partner in a private business . He said that you should imagine market quotations as coming from a remarkably accommodating fellow named Mr . And the market aberrations produced by them will be equally unpredictable , both as to duration and degree .
In February 2001, Berkshire acquired Johns Manville, established in 1858 and a manufacturer of fiberglass wool insulation products for homes and commercial buildings, as well as pipe, duct, and equipment insulation products. In January 2001, Berkshire acquired 87% of Dalton, Georgia-based Shaw Industries. In December 2000, Berkshire acquired Benjamin Moore & Co., headquartered in Montvale, New Jersey. Helzberg Diamonds, a chain of jewelry stores based in Kansas City that began in 1915, was acquired by Berkshire in 1995 after a chance run in between Buffett and Barnett Helzberg on a street in New York City. In May 2000, Berkshire acquired Ben Bridge Jeweler, a chain of jewelry stores established in 1912 with locations primarily in the western United States.
Towns and villages
- At times he feels euphoric and can see only the favorable factors affecting the business .
- In Compton, a small village, roughly 10 miles from Newbury, a chemical manufacturing company called Carbosynth was founded, in 2006.
- Buffett later described this as “a major mistake” as the price of oil collapsed during the Great Recession.
- Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company run by Warren Buffett that owns a diverse range of businesses and minority stakes in public companies like Apple.
- In 2017, Berkshire was the largest shareholder in United Airlines and Delta Air Lines and a top 3 shareholder in Southwest Airlines and American Airlines.
Other hockey teams in the county include Tadley, Yateley, Maidenhead, Windsor, and Newbury & Thatcham Hockey Clubs. There are several amateur and semi-professional football clubs in the county. Berkshire hosts more Group 1 flat horse races than any other county. The county’s local radio stations are BBC Radio Berkshire, Heart South and Greatest Hits Radio Berkshire & North Hampshire. Abingdon Abbey once had dairy-based granges in the south-east of the county,citation needed Red Windsor cheese was developed with red marbling.
Leadership Succession at Berkshire Hathaway
GEICO, headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, primarily offers private passenger automobile insurance marketed directly to individual consumers in the United States. It included Kirby Company, which was sold in 2021, Wayne Water Systems, and Campbell Hausfeld products. In 1986, Berkshire acquired Scott Fetzer Company, a diversified group of 32 brands that manufactures and distributes products for residential, industrial, and institutional use, including Ginsu knives and World Book Encyclopedia. In 2020, Lee Enterprises acquired BH Media Group’s publications and The Buffalo News for $140 million in cash, retaining WPLG. In 2013, the company bought the Tulsa World, the Greensboro, North Carolina-based News & Record, Virginia’s Roanoke Times, and Press of Atlantic City.
Annual letters and shareholders’ meetings
Berkshire is one of the ten largest components of the S&P 500 and is on the list of largest employers in the United States. Berkshire Hathaway is ranked 5th on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue and 9th on the Fortune Global 500. Originally a textile manufacturer, the company transitioned into a conglomerate starting in 1965 under the management of chairman and CEO Warren Buffett and vice chairman Charlie Munger (from 1978 to 2023). Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (/ˈbɜːrkʃər/) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.
Understanding Berkshire Hathaway: Market Cap, Ownership, and More
In October 1999, Berkshire acquired Jordan’s Furniture for an estimated $200 million to $300 million. The division owns a residential real estate brokerage business, berkshire hathaway letters to shareholders which, in March 2013, was rebranded as HomeServices of America, a division of Berkshire Hathaway Energy. Berkshire paid for the acquisition with Class A shares valued at $58,400 each; Buffett later said he overpaid, despite strong performance by General Re. In December 1998, Berkshire acquired Gen Re, headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, for $22 billion. NetJets is the world’s largest provider of fractional ownership programs for general aviation aircraft. In July 1998, Berkshire Hathaway acquired NetJets, formerly Executive Jet Aviation, for $725 million in cash.
By periodically investing in an index fund , for example , the know — nothing investor can actually out — perform most investment professionals . What he treasures is the price history of its stock . In assessing risk , a beta purist will disdain examining what a company produces , what its competitors are doing , or how much borrowed money the business employs .
The most common culprits, for Buffett, are the kinds of executives who determine that they’re going to buy a certain amount of stock over a certain period of time. He argues that asset-heavy companies “can be good investments,” with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and Berkshire Hathaway Energy as prime examples. The reason that many CEOs use derivatives, Buffett says, is to hedge risks inherent to their business — like Burlington Northern using fuel derivatives to protect its business model against an increase in the price of fuel. In his 2019 shareholder letter, Buffett reported that Berkshire Hathaway’s top 10 stock investments had generated almost $3.8B in dividends over the previous year.
Market volatility
Its class A shares have the highest per-share price of any public company in the world, reaching $700,000 in August 2024, because the board of directors has historically been opposed to stock splits. In contrast , we’ll happily forgo knowing the price history and instead will seek whatever information will further our understanding of the company’s business . It’s true , of course , that , in the long run , the scoreboard for investment decisions is market price .
In February 2002, Berkshire acquired Albecca, headquartered in Norcross, Georgia, operating under the Larson-Juhl name. On April 23, 2010, Mitek acquired the assets of Dur-O-Wal from Dayton Superior. In May 2008, Mitek acquired Hohmann & Barnard, a fabricator of anchors and reinforcement systems for masonry.
Ice hockey
In October 2025, Berkshire acquired OxyChem, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum, in a $9.7 billion cash deal. This move was touted as an example of Warren Buffett’s “disdain” for investment bankers. It appointed two Berkshire Hathaway Energy executives as CEO and CFO of the company, retaining Jimmy Haslam as chairman. In 2020, Buffett said he overpaid for the company and wrote down its value by approximately $10 billion. In January 2016, Berkshire Hathaway acquired Precision Castparts Corp. for $32.1 billion.
But the future then also included competitive dynamics that would decimate almost all of the companies entering those industries . Though capitalism’s “ creative destruction ” is highly beneficial for society , it precludes investment certainty . Our criterion of “ enduring ” causes us to rule out companies in industries prone to rapid and continuous change . Business history is filled with “ Roman Candles , ” companies whose moats proved illusory and were soon crossed . The dynamics of capitalism guarantee that competitors will repeatedly assault any business “ castle ” that is earning high returns .
The company has acquired several residential real estate brokerages including Long & Foster, acquired in September 2017. In 2005, it acquired PacifiCorp for $5.1 billion in cash, and assumed $4.3 billion in PacificCorp debt and preferred stock. In February 1997, Berkshire acquired FlightSafety International (FSI), a pilot training company founded in 1951 by Albert Lee Ueltschi and headquartered at LaGuardia Airport in Flushing, New York. In January 1996, Berkshire acquired full ownership of GEICO, acquiring the 49% of the company that it did not then own for $2.3 billion.