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Berkshire Hathaway

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (/ˈbɜːrkʃər/) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Founded in 1839 as a textile manufacturer, it underwent a drastic restructuring into a conglomerate starting in 1965 under the leadership of chairman and CEO Warren Buffett and vice chairman Charlie Munger. Today, the company's earning power is diversified across a broad portfolio of subsidiaries, equity positions and other securities. Insurance is a major area of operations and the float (the retained premiums) generated serves as an important source of capital. Buffett and Munger are known for their advocacy of value investing principles and under their direction, the company's book value has grown at an average rate of 20%, compared to about 10% from the S&P 500 index with dividends included over the same period, while employing large amounts of capital and minimal debt.[4]

Company type

1839 (1839)

Worldwide

Increase US$364.5 billion (2023)

Increase US$120.16 billion (2023)

Increase US$96.22 billion (2023)

Increase US$1.069 trillion (2023)

Increase US$567.5 billion (2023)

Warren Buffett (30.71% of votes, 16.45% of shares)

396,500 (2023)

The company's insurance brands include auto insurer GEICO and reinsurance firm Gen Re. Its non-insurance subsidiaries operate in diverse sectors such as confectionery, retail, railroads, home furnishings, machinery, jewelry, apparel, electrical power and natural gas distribution. Among its partially owned businesses are Kraft Heinz Company (26.7%), American Express (18.8%), Paramount Global (15.4%),[5] Bank of America (11.9%), The Coca-Cola Company (9.32%) and Apple (5.57%).[6][7]


Berkshire is one of the top ten components of the S&P 500 index[8] and one of the largest American-owned private employers in the United States. Its class A shares have the highest per-share price of any public company in the world, reaching $500,000 in March 2022, because the board has historically been opposed to splitting the A shares.[9]

Berkshire's Performance since 1965[edit]

Berkshire Hathaway under Warren Buffett management is listed in the New York Stock Exchange since 1965. In 1996, a new Class B was offered to investors. The stock price of Berkshire Hathaway A and B class fluctuates identically both up and down daily. In fifty-eight years, the stock price had only negative performance in eleven years (1966, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1984, 1990, 1999, 2002, 2008, 2011, 2015). From 1965 to 2023, the annual average performance was 19.8%.[44]

– Berkshire acquired GEICO in January 1996. GEICO is headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and its principal insurance subsidiaries include; Government Employees Insurance Company, GEICO General Insurance Company, GEICO Indemnity Company, and GEICO Casualty Company. Over the past five years, these companies have offered primarily private passenger automobile insurance to individuals in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. GEICO markets its policies primarily through direct response methods in which applications for insurance are submitted directly to the companies via the Internet or by telephone.[45]

GEICO

– Berkshire acquired General Re in December 1998.[46] General Re held a 91% ownership interest in Cologne Re as of December 31, 2004. General Re subsidiaries currently conduct global reinsurance business in approximately 72 cities and provide global reinsurance coverage. General Re operates the following reinsurance businesses: North American property/casualty, international property/casualty, which principally consists of Cologne Re and the Faraday operations, and life/health reinsurance. General Re's reinsurance operations are primarily based in Stamford, Connecticut, and Cologne, Germany. General Re is one of the largest reinsurers in the world based on net premiums written and capital.

Gen Re

National Indemnity Company is based in , Nebraska, and founded in 1940 by Jack Dabney Ringwalt. Berkshire bought the company in 1967 in its first subsidiary acquisition under Buffett's control.[47] In 2012, the company acquired Worker's Compensation insurer GUARD for $221,000,000.[48]

Omaha

Between September 2019 and August 2020, Berkshire Hathaway purchased more than 5% of the outstanding stock of each of the five largest Japanese , i.e. Itochu, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Sumitomo, and Marubeni, through National Indemnity Company. These stakes were worth a total of over $6 billion as of August 2020.[49]

general trading companies

List of Berkshire Hathaway publications

Official website

Bloomberg

Bloomberg