Berkshire Hathaway

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Company typePublic
ISINUS0846707026
IndustryConglomerate
Predecessor
Founded1839; 185 years ago (1839)
FounderOliver Chace
HeadquartersBlackstone Plaza,
Omaha, Nebraska
,
U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Products
List
RevenueIncrease US$364.5 billion (2023)
Increase US$120.16 billion (2023)
Increase US$96.22 billion (2023)
Total assetsIncrease US$1.069 trillion (2023)
Total equityIncrease US$567.5 billion (2023)
OwnerWarren Buffett: 38.4% of the Class A voting shares, representing a 15.1% overall economic interest in the company
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: 1.85% interest, shares were donated by Buffett
Number of employees
396,500 (2023)
SubsidiariesSee List of subsidiaries
Websiteberkshirehathaway.com
Footnotes / references
[2][3][4]

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (/ˈbɜːrkʃər/) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1839 as a textile manufacturer, it transitioned into a major conglomerate starting in 1965 under the management of chairman and CEO Warren Buffett and vice chairman Charlie Munger (1924-2023). Greg Abel now oversees most of the company's investments and has been named as the successor to Buffett. Buffett personally owns 38.4% of the Class A voting shares of Berkshire Hathaway, representing a 15.1% overall economic interest in the company.[4]

Major companies wholly-owned by Berkshire include GEICO, Gen Re, BNSF Railway, Precision Castparts Corp., Lubrizol, Dairy Queen, Duracell, Benjamin Moore & Co., Pilot Flying J, Clayton Homes, Fruit of the Loom, Business Wire, NetJets, Oriental Trading Company, Pampered Chef, Ben Bridge Jeweler, CTB International, Central States Indemnity, Johns Manville, Scott Fetzer Company, McLane Company, See's Candies, WPLG, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Berkshire Hathaway Assurance, and HomeServices of America. Major stakes in public companies owned by Berkshire as of September 30, 2024 include 44.0% of DaVita, 32.5% of Sirius XM, 27.2% of Occidental Petroleum, 26.9% of Kraft Heinz, 21.5% of American Express, 13.6% of Moody's Ratings, 9.99% of Bank of America, 9.5% of Sumitomo Group, 9.5% of Ally Financial, 9.3% of The Coca-Cola Company, 8.9% of Mitsubishi, 8.6% of Visa Inc., 8.6% of Louisiana-Pacific, 8.5% of Marubeni, 8.4% of Mitsui, 7.5% of Itochu, 6.9% of Kroger, 6.6% of Chevron Corporation, 6.7% of Chubb Limited, 4.9% of BYD Auto, 3.7% of Domino's, 2.9% of Citigroup, 2.4% of Capital One, 2.0% of Charter Communications, 2.0% of Apple Inc., 1.9% of Aon, 1.8% of Nubank, 1.3% of HEICO, 1.2% of Verisign, and 1.1% of Pool Corporation.[5] Insurance is a major area of operations and the retained premiums (float) serves as an important source of capital.[6] As of September 30, 2024, the company had $325 billion in cash and cash equivalents, more than any other U.S.-based public company.[7]

The company is focused on shareholder returns; between 1965, when Buffett gained control of the company, and 2023, the company's shareholder returns amounted to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.8% compared to a 10.2% CAGR for the S&P 500.[8] However, in the 10 years ending in 2023, Berkshire Hathaway produced a CAGR of 11.8% for shareholders, compared to a 12.0% CAGR for the S&P 500.[9] From 1965 to 2023, the stock price had negative performance in only eleven years (1966, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1984, 1990, 1999, 2002, 2008, 2011, 2015).[10] In August 2024, Berkshire Hathaway became the eighth U.S. public company and the first non-technology company to be valued at over $1 trillion on the list of public corporations by market capitalization.[11]

The company has generally avoided investing in the technology industry; Buffett has said he prefers evergreen businesses that generate predictable long-term returns,[12] that he doesn't invest in companies that he doesn't understand,[13] and that he does not like to invest in companies that may undergo significant change.[14]

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.[15] Berkshire is one of the ten largest components of the S&P 500[16] and is on the list of largest employers in the United States. 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.[17]

  1. ^ 2023 Annual Report, "Item 1: Business Description"
  2. ^ "Berkshire Hathaway". Forbes.
  3. ^ "US SEC: Form 10-K Berkshire Hathaway Inc" (PDF). U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. February 25, 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Berkshire Hathaway Inc. SCHEDULE 14A". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. March 15, 2024.
  5. ^ "Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker". CNBC. May 16, 2019.
  6. ^ Goldstein, Jacob (March 1, 2010). "Warren Buffett Explains The Genius Of The Float". NPR.
  7. ^ KRANTZ, MATT (November 13, 2024). "What Warren Buffett Can Buy With His Record $325 Billion Cash Pile". Investor's Business Daily.
  8. ^ Speights, Keith (September 11, 2024). "3 Reasons Buying Warren Buffett's Favorite Stock Is Smarter Than Investing in an S&P 500 ETF". The Motley Fool.
  9. ^ "Berkshire's solid 2023 gain isn't enough to beat S&P". CNBC. December 29, 2023.
  10. ^ Hubin, Raphaël (December 19, 2023). Get Rich slowly and carefully with Berkshire Hathaway (1st ed.). Switzerland: Editions Anonymes GmbH. pp. 126–134. ISBN 978-2-9701750-1-8.
  11. ^ Li, Yun (August 28, 2024). "Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway hits $1 trillion market value, first U.S. company outside of tech to do so". CNBC. Archived from the original on August 28, 2024.
  12. ^ Sun, Leo (August 21, 2024). "Why Doesn't Warren Buffett Invest in Nvidia?". The Motley Fool.
  13. ^ Cashman, Kevin; Astmann, Chad. "Buffett Goes Humble on Tech". Korn Ferry.
  14. ^ McKown, Colleen (April 2, 2018). "Over time, Buffett softens his stance on tech stocks". CNBC.
  15. ^ "Fortune: Berkshire Hathaway". Fortune.
  16. ^ "S&P 500". S&P Dow Jones Indices. S&P Global.
  17. ^ Li, Yun (August 24, 2024). "Warren Buffett leads Berkshire Hathaway to new heights at age 94". CNBC.