Talk:Berkshire Hathaway

Re: Advertising for the "intrinsic value" site

I think Jaysbro has a point. In fact, I will go further and vote against linking to any ".com" sites that claim to "calculate" an authoritative "Intrinsic value" figure. I feel strong enough about this and have gone ahead to remove the paragraph. Just my (strong) 2 cents. Of course, I might be wrong and am very willing to further discuss this. – Kempton "Ideas are the currency of the future." - a quote by Kevin Roberts 21:46, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

just for the sake of argument, it's the way you calculate the IV, not the number itself. Alice Schroeder did it in her report on the company[1] (once available online, now broken link). the intrinsivaluator site is not an ad [2], but it's the assumptions behind the spreadsheet that tell the tale. it would be useful in a section that explains the investment methodology, i.e. the present value of the future cash flows from the business versus the price. Intrinsic value (finance) pohick (talk) 21:01, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Removal of Medical Protective in Common stock holdings

According to page 36 &54 of the 2006 Annual report, the Medical Protective Corporation was acquired by Berkshire on June 30, 2005. It probably shouldn't be listed as part of Berkshire's Common stock holdings. I might be wrong as this is just my 2 cents and my reading of the AR. – Kempton "Ideas are the currency of the future." - a quote by Kevin Roberts 05:18, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

Section of operations NPOV

The paragraph in the history section of the article that says "One of the best-run subsidiaries of Berkshire Hathaway is the Oakriver Insurance Co..." is blatantly biased and reads like a whole paragraph of marketing/PR spin on that company. It is not neutral at all. Maybe provide some statistics showing that it's the highest-earning, or something along those lines. Kevinlipe 16:29, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

Removing the paragraph on Oak River. Besides the POV nature of the entry, the company is immaterial to the operations of Berkshire, having 2006 written premium of $23,290,000. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dougz1 (talk • contribs) 17:47, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

History

What is the NPOV problem with History? Superm401 - Talk 05:40, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

CEO pay

I think it's a little misleading calling the salery of the CEO $100,000 considering buffet s worth $50-60 billion. Any ideas on how to make this clearer.JakeH07 (talk) 03:22, 10 October 2008 (UTC)

It's not misleading at all because that is his salary. He doesn't receive any other compensation, either. His net worth is from his BRK stock issued long ago. Hondo77 (talk) 05:24, 10 October 2008 (UTC)

yes but - check the 10k - he gets directors fees as well: 2007 = $75,000; he reimbursed the company $50,000 for postage, phones, and personal (presumably plane), (but never stock options). he purchased the stock, with money he earned on his paper route, and pin ball machines, compounded in the investment partnership (in the 50's and 60's) it's all in snowball.pohick (talk) 20:49, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Investments in Wrigley, Goldman Sachs and GE

The article states the following:

Recently, Berkshire has purchased preferred stock in Wrigley, Goldman Sachs, and GE totaling $14.5 billion.[16]

The 2008 annual report actually states this:

On the plus side last year, we made purchases totaling $14.5 billion in fixed-income securities issued by Wrigley, Goldman Sachs and General Electric. We very much like these commitments, which carry high current yields that, in themselves, make the investments more than satisfactory. But in each of these three purchases, we also acquired a substantial equity participation as a bonus.

My comment is that the reader of the article could think that the $14.5 billion refers completely to equity positions in these stocks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pauli muc (talk • contribs) 09:18, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

I agree with that, In the article it definitely sounds like they acquired $14.5B in equity, I don't know whether that's correct though. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.41.20.160 (talk) 17:51, 19 July 2010 (UTC)

Class B Split

Class B shares are going to be splitting 50 to 1. Ignignot (talk) 20:04, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

Investment policy

I'm British, and therefore clueless about business and finance. Doesn't BH have a general policy of investing for value and of maintaining holdings for a long time? If this is correct could anyone add a note to that effect, giving a proper source?

Regards to all, Notreallydavid (talk) 21:07, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

Early years under Buffett's management

Hi, I'm still British, and still clueless about business and finance (see subheading above). Shouldn't it be made explicit (if I have this correct) that Buffett closed the remaining textile plants (they didn't just 'close'), resulting in considerable job losses?

Regards to all again, Notreallydavid (talk) 21:13, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

Corporate affairs - Out of Date

I have tagged the Corporate affairs section of this article as out of date, as it discusses share prices of $140,000 as of January, and notes that they 'closed at an all-time high of $150,000 on December 13, 2007.' As of the time of tagging, shares were higher than that, at approximately $166,000. As I am unfamiliar with the policies for updating changing information, I figured I would tag it and let a veteran editor make a call instead of editing it myself. 75.159.77.50 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 07:51, 26 May 2013 (UTC)