Portal:Berkshire Hathaway
Portal maintenance status: (October 2018)
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Introduction
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. The company wholly owns GEICO, Dairy Queen, BNSF Railway, Lubrizol, Fruit of the Loom, Helzberg Diamonds, Long & Foster, FlightSafety International, Pampered Chef, and NetJets, and also owns 38.6% of Pilot Flying J; 26.7% of the Kraft Heinz Company, and significant minority holdings in American Express (17.6%), Wells Fargo (9.9%), The Coca-Cola Company (9.4%), Bank of America (6.8%), and Apple (5.22%). Since 2016, the company has acquired large holdings in the major US airline carriers, and is currently the largest shareholder in United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, and a top three shareholder in Southwest Airlines and American Airlines. Berkshire Hathaway has averaged an annual growth in book value of 19.0% to its shareholders since 1965 (compared to 9.7% from the S&P 500 with dividends included for the same period), while employing large amounts of capital, and minimal debt.
The company is known for its control and leadership by Warren Buffett, who serves as chairman and chief executive, and Charlie Munger, the company's vice chairman. In the early part of his career at Berkshire, Buffett focused on long-term investments in publicly traded companies, but more recently he has more frequently bought whole companies. Berkshire now owns a diverse range of businesses including confectionery, retail, railroads, home furnishings, encyclopedias, manufacturers of vacuum cleaners, jewelry sales, newspaper publishing, manufacture and distribution of uniforms, and several regional electric and gas utilities.
Selected general articles
- Marmon Group is an industrial United States holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois; founded by Jay Pritzker and Robert Pritzker in 1953 (as Colson Corporation), it has been held by the Berkshire Hathaway group since 2013.[not verified in body] It owns companies that produce transportation equipment, electrical components, and other industrial components,[not verified in body] and companies that provide services in the construction and retail sectors.[not verified in body] Tank car manufacturing is a significant part of its business,[not verified in body] products which are sold through its subsidiaries Union Tank Car Company in the United States[not verified in body] and Procor in Canada.[not verified in body] Berkshire Hathaway, which owns the largest freight railroad carrier in North America, BNSF Railway,[not verified in body] acquired controlling interest in Marmon in 2007 and became sole owner six years later. Read more...
The Culpeper Star-Exponent is a daily newspaper serving Culpeper County, Virginia, United States, published seven days a week. It is owned by BH Media Group, a division of Berkshire Hathaway. Read more...- Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies are A.M. Best rated A+ (“Superior”) and specialize in providing insurance coverage to businesses across the country. Products are available through contracted independent agents and brokers. The group’s insurance companies (AmGUARD, EastGUARD, NorGUARD, and WestGUARD) currently insure over 250,000 businesses. Read more...
Howard Graham Buffett (born December 16, 1954) is an American businessman, former politician, philanthropist, photographer, farmer, and conservationist. He is the middle child of billionaire investor Warren Buffett. He is named after Howard Buffett, his grandfather, and Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett's favorite professor. Read more...- General Reinsurance Corporation is an American multinational property/casualty and life/health reinsurance company offering a range of reinsurance products and services. The company is a direct reinsurer and is represented in all major reinsurance markets worldwide through a network of more than 40 offices and over 3578 employees. Gen Re is a member of the Berkshire Hathaway Inc group of companies.
Financial strength ratings of Gen Re's reinsurance operations:- A.M. Best: A++ (Superior)
- Standard & Poor's Claims Paying Ability Rating: AA+
General Re Corporation is the holding company for Gen Re's global reinsurance and related operations. It owns General Reinsurance Corporation, General Re Life Corporation and General Reinsurance AG, the direct reinsurers which conduct business as Gen Re. In addition, the insurance, reinsurance and investment management companies in the General Re group include: Gen Re Intermediaries, GR-NEAM, General Star, Genesis, USAU and Faraday. Read more...
Johns Manville is an American corporation based in Denver, Colorado that manufactures insulation, roofing materials, and engineered products. For much of the 20th century, the then-titled Johns-Manville Corporation was the global leader in the manufacture of asbestos-containing products, including asbestos pipe insulation, asbestos shingles, asbestos roofing materials and asbestos cement pipe.
Johns Manville stock was included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average from January 29, 1930 to August 27, 1982 when it was replaced by American Express. In 1981, Johns-Manville Corporation was renamed simply "Manville". In 1982, facing unprecedented liability for asbestos injury claims, Johns Manville voluntarily filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Read more...
Warren Edward Buffett (/ˈbʌfɪt/; born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, speaker and philanthropist who serves as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is considered one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net worth of US$84.4 billion as of November 1, 2018, making him the third-wealthiest person in the world.
Buffett was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He developed an interest in business and investing in his youth, eventually entering the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1947 before transferring and graduating from University of Nebraska at the age of 19. He went on to graduate from Columbia Business School, where he molded his investment philosophy around the concept of value investing that was pioneered by Benjamin Graham. He attended New York Institute of Finance to focus his economics background and soon after began various business partnerships, including one with Graham. He created the Buffett Partnership after meeting Charlie Munger, and his firm eventually acquired a textile manufacturing firm called Berkshire Hathaway and assumed its name to create a diversified holding company. Read more...- Business Wire is a company that disseminates full-text press releases from thousands of companies and organizations worldwide to news media, financial markets, disclosure systems, investors, information web sites, databases, bloggers, social networks and other audiences. It is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. Read more...
- Ginsu (/ˈɡɪnsuː/) is a brand of direct marketed knives that was made popular in the United States by being sold on television using infomercials characterized by hawker and hard sell pitch techniques. The ads fueled sales of between two and three million Ginsu sets between 1978 and 1984. Read more...
- The News & Record is the largest newspaper serving Guilford County, North Carolina, and the surrounding region. It is based in Greensboro, North Carolina, and produces local sections for Greensboro and Rockingham County, North Carolina. As of September 30, 2011, it had an average weekday circulation of about 54,789 and an average Sunday circulation of about 81,600. The News & Record is also the third largest paper in North Carolina after the News & Observer and Charlotte Observer.
On January 3, 2008, it was reported that the family-owned Landmark Communications may be for sale. On January 31, 2013, the News & Record was sold to Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., a Fortune 500 company based in Omaha, Nebraska. Read more...
A UTLX tank car passes westbound through Rochelle Railroad Park in Rochelle, Illinois on May 29, 2005.
Union Tank Car Company or UTLX (their best known reporting mark) is a railway equipment leasing company (and car maintenance / manufacturing) headquartered in metro Chicago, Illinois. As the name says, they specialise in tank cars, and covered hopper cars. As of September 2005, according to their site, they have about 80,000 cars in their fleet.
Union Tank Car Company was founded in 1866 by Captain Jacob J. Vandergrift, in response to the economic activities of John D. Rockefeller in the years leading up to his creation of Standard Oil. Vandergrift was involved in the conflicts in the oil regions of Western Pennsylvania in the 1860s–1870s. Eventually, Union Tank Car Company and Vandergrift's other holdings, which included pipeline and riverboat transport companies, merged with the company that later became Standard Oil. Rockefeller, once Captain Vandergrift's nemesis, made him Vice President of Standard Oil. The town of Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, built in 1895 by steel company president George G. McMurtry to house his workers, was named in Vandergrift's honor. Read more...
The Bristol Herald Courier is a 39,000 circulation daily newspaper owned by Berkshire Hathaway. The newspaper is located in Bristol, Virginia, a small city located in Southwest Virginia on the Tennessee border.
The Herald Courier is in what the media industry calls a converged newsroom, meaning its online (heraldcourier.com) print (Herald Courier) and broadcast (WJHL-Johnson City) operations work together closely. Herald Courier reporters are trained to occasionally deliver webcasts of Bristol news, conduct TV "talk-backs" with WJHL and gather audio for daily stories. News Channel 11 reporters often have bylined stories that appear in the Herald Courier news pages. Under Media General, both operations provided content for TriCities.com, a subsidiary of Media General's Digital Media Department. The future of the website is said to be up in the air. Read more...- The Press of Atlantic City is the fourth-largest daily newspaper in New Jersey, United States. Originally based in Pleasantville, it is the primary newspaper for southeastern New Jersey and the Jersey Shore. The newspaper designated market runs from Waretown in southern Ocean County (exit 69 on the Garden State Parkway) down to Cape May (exit 0). It also reaches west to Cumberland County, New Jersey. The paper has a combined print and digital daily circulation of 72,846 and a Sunday circulation of 95,626. The Press closed its printing facility in Pleasantville in 2014, at which time it outsourced printing to a facility in Freehold. That printing plant (owned by Gannett) closed in 2017, with most of the New Jersey printing and production operations consolidated in Gannett's Rockaway plant.
Coverage focuses largely on local and regional news, with limited state, national and international news appearing on the Nation & World page in the Money section on page D3. The Press of Atlantic City also publishes various other products, including At The Shore, the area's entertainment guide. Presented in tabloid format, it is inserted in the paper each Thursday and an additional 20,000–40,000 copies are bulk dropped to key tourist locations throughout the year. Other specialty niche publications include Bliss, a twice yearly bridal magazine, Real Estate Monthly, Summer Fun, The Atlantic County Living Guide, and The Cape May County Living Guide, among many others. Two branded editions of the paper, Press Extra and Sunday Saver, provide very limited coverage of the area. Read more... - Acme Brick Company is an American manufacturer and distributor of brick and masonry-related construction products and materials. Founder George E. Bennett (October 6, 1852 – July 3, 1907), chartered the company as the Acme Pressed Brick Company on April 17, 1891, in Alton, Illinois, although the company's physical location has always been in Texas. The company grew to become the largest American-owned brick manufacturer by the mid-20th century and was the first of its type to offer a 100-year limited guarantee to its customers. Acme Brick Company was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway on August 1, 2000. Read more...
- WPLG, virtual and VHF digital channel 10, is an ABC-affiliated television station licensed to Miami, Florida, United States and also serving Fort Lauderdale. Owned by the BH Media subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway as its sole broadcast property, WPLG maintains studios on West Hallandale Beach Boulevard (SR 858) in Pembroke Park, and its transmitter is located in Miami Gardens. Read more...
- Gregory Edward Abel (born 1961/62) is a Canadian businessman, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and vice chairman of non-insurance operations of Berkshire Hathaway since January 2018. Read more...
- Clayton Homes is the largest builder of manufactured housing and modular homes in the US. Clayton Homes is owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.
Clayton's corporate headquarters are in Maryville, Tennessee. Its subsidiaries include Vanderbilt Mortgage, 21st Mortgage, the nation's largest manufactured home lender, and insurance company HomeFirst Agency. Read more... - The Lubrizol Corporation is a provider of specialty chemicals for the transportation, industrial and consumer markets. These products include additives for engine oils and other transportation-related fluids, additives for industrial lubricants, and additives for gasoline and diesel fuel. In addition, Lubrizol makes ingredients and additives for personal care products, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, specialty materials, including plastics technology, and coatings in the form of specialty resins and additives.
Lubrizol is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway and is headquartered in Wickliffe, Ohio. The company generated $6.5 billion in revenue in 2016 and has an employee headcount of approximately 8,300 people globally. Eric R. Schnur is the current president, chairman and CEO. Read more... - The Winston-Salem Journal is an American daily newspaper primarily serving the city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and its county, Forsyth County, North Carolina. It also features coverage of Northwestern North Carolina and circulates as far west as Tennessee and north to Virginia.
The paper is owned by Berkshire Hathaway. The Journal was founded in 1897. Read more... - NetJets Europe (business name of NetJets Transportes Aéreos, S.A.) is a company that offers fractional ownership of private business jets. Being a partially owned subsidiary of NetJets Inc., it is based in Portugal, being the largest business aviation company in Europe. Read more...
- Shaw Industries Group, Inc., a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., is the world's largest carpet manufacturer with more than $4 billion in annual sales and approximately 22,300 employees worldwide. It is headquartered in Dalton, Georgia.
Shaw Industries is not related to The Shaw Group, a defunct engineering & construction company in Baton Rouge, LA. Read more... - Ajit Jain (born 1951 in Orissa, India) is Indian born and is Vice Chairman of Insurance Operations for Berkshire Hathaway as of January 10, 2018. He was raised in India's coastal state of Orissa. Ajit Jain is an older cousin of Anshu Jain, who was the former Co-CEO of Deutsche Bank. Read more...
Nebraska Furniture Mart is the largest home furnishing store in North America selling furniture, flooring, appliances and electronics. NFM was founded in 1937 by Belarus-born Rose Blumkin, universally known as Mrs. B., in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Under the motto "sell cheap and tell the truth," she worked in the business until age 103. In 1983, Mrs. B. sold a majority interest to Berkshire Hathaway in a handshake deal with Warren Buffett. Read more...- Wyman-Gordon is a company that designs and manufactures complex metal components. Founded in 1883 as a manufacturer of crankshafts for looms, it has a long history of making forged metal components, particularly for the aerospace industry. Wyman-Gordon is now a subsidiary of Precision Castparts Corp., and is based in Houston, Texas. It has 13 plants in five countries, and employed about 2,500 people as of 2012. Read more...
Burlington Northern Santa Fe, LLC is the parent company of the BNSF Railway (formerly the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway). The company is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of
Berkshire Hathaway, which is controlled by investor Warren Buffett. Read more...- Russell Brands, LLC, headquartered in Bowling Green, Kentucky, is an American manufacturer of sports equipment, which markets its products under many brands and subsidiaries, including Russell Athletic (its flagship brand) and Spalding. Formerly a publicly traded company, Russell Brands has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway since 2006. Read more...
The Buffalo News is the daily newspaper of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area, located at 1 News Plaza in Downtown Buffalo, New York. The paper is owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. It was for decades the only newspaper fully owned by that company. Read more...- HomeServices of America is a residential real estate services company. The company provides real estate brokerage services, mortgage loan origination, franchising, title insurance/escrow and closing services, home warranties, property insurance, casualty insurance, and relocation services.
A HomeServices of America in Gillette, Wyoming
The company's real estate brokerage division operates under 43 brand names, which are listed on its website. Read more...
This is a list of assets owned by the multinational holding company Berkshire Hathaway, including private subsidiaries and large common stock holdings, as well as Berkshire's sizeable cash position. Read more...- The Kearney Hub is a daily newspaper published in Kearney, Nebraska, United States, and is the primary newspaper for south-central region of Nebraska surrounding the city, including Buffalo County, Nebraska and the Kearney Micropolitan Statistical Area.
The paper was founded in 1888, and was first published on October 22, 1888. Its founders included Mentor A. Brown (1853-1932), formerly of the Beatrice Press, and R.H. Eaton, who together organized the Hub Printing Company to publish the paper and to take over the Central Nebraska Press which dated from 1873. The name "Hub" was chosen because the town was considered the "hub" of the continent, located 1733 miles from both Boston and San Francisco. Read more...
The Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO /ˈɡaɪkoʊ/) is an American auto insurance company with headquarters in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It is the second largest auto insurer in the United States, after State Farm. GEICO is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway that provides coverage for more than 24 million motor vehicles owned by more than 15 million policy holders as of 2017. GEICO writes private passenger automobile insurance in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The insurance agency sells policies through local agents, called GEICO Field Representatives, over the phone directly to the consumer, and through their website. Its mascot is a gold dust day gecko with a Cockney accent, voiced by English actor Jake Wood. GEICO is well known in popular culture for its advertising, having made a large number of commercials intended to entertain viewers. Read more...
See's Candies is an American manufacturer and distributor of candy, particularly chocolates. It was founded by Charles See, his wife Florence, and his mother Mary in Los Angeles, California, in 1921. The company is now headquartered in South San Francisco, California. See's kitchens are at its headquarters and at a second location in Los Angeles, where there are also retail shops. It also has an office in Carson, California. The company has been owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Corporation since January 1972. Read more...- Orange Julius is an American chain of fruit drink beverage stores. It has been in business since the late 1920s. The eponymous beverage is a mixture of ice, orange juice, sweetener, milk, powdered egg whites and vanilla flavoring, similar to a morir soñando or orange Creamsicle. Read more...
- David Sanford "Sandy" Gottesman (born April 26, 1926) is an American businessman and billionaire who founded First Manhattan Co. (FMC). Read more...
- The Marmon-Herrington Company, Inc. is an American manufacturer of axles and transfer cases for trucks and other vehicles. Earlier, the company built military vehicles and some tanks during World War II, and until the late 1950s or early 1960s was a manufacturer of trucks and trolley buses. Marmon-Herrington had a partnership with Ford Motor Company, producing trucks and other commercial vehicles, such as buses. The company may be best known for its all-wheel-drive conversions to other truck maker's units, especially to Ford truck models. Founded in 1931, Marmon-Herrington was based in Indianapolis, Indiana, with a plant in Windsor, Ontario, and remained in Indianapolis until 1963. It is now based in Louisville, Kentucky. Read more...
- Boat Owners Association of The United States, better known as BoatUS, is an American association of boat owners offering various services supporting recreational boat and trailer towing activities. Among their services are boat insurance and boat loans, discounts on boating-related products and services, mediation services with manufacturers and dealers, a product recall alert registry, and lobbying organization on behalf of boat owners. The organization is based in Alexandria, Virginia, and promotes itself “The Nation’s Largest Recreational Boating Association” and "The Boat Owners Auto Club" for its similarities to AAA.
BoatUS also gave rise to the organization that would be eventually called the BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that promotes safe boating and environmentally responsible boating practices. Read more... - Oriental Trading Company is a direct merchant of value-priced party supplies, arts and crafts, toys and novelties and school supplies. It was founded in 1932 as one of the United States' first wholesaling companies. Oriental Trading has been recognized as one of the top 100 Internet retailers and one of the top 50 catalog companies.[by whom?] It is based in Omaha, Nebraska, and is owned by Berkshire Hathaway. Read more...
- Forest River Inc., is a US manufacturer of recreational vehicles, cargo trailers, utility trailers, pontoon boats, and buses. Read more...
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Kiewit Tower, the location of Berkshire's corporate offices in Omaha, Nebraska
A HomeServices of America in Gillette, Wyoming
C-17 Globemaster III full flight simulator at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam
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