Berkshire Hathaway: What It Is, Market Cap, and Who Owns It

He has donated more than half his Berkshire stock to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and several charitable foundations run by his family. Buffet said in a letter to shareholders that he would ultimately pledge 99% of his fortune to charitable causes. Now widely regarded as one of the most successful investors in history, Buffett is often called the “Oracle of Omaha”. He owes the vast majority of his wealth to the shrewd investments he made with Berkshire Hathaway, in which he has a 15.1% stake worth an estimated $135 billion. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, on Aug. 30, 1930, Buffett demonstrated a flair for business at a remarkably young age. At just 11 years old, he invested in his first stock and later spent his teenage years delivering copies of the Washington Post and selling items such as golf balls, stamps, and calendars.

Non-US public companies

These include Duracell, International Dairy Queen, Pampered Chef, Fruit of the Loom, NetJets, and GEICO, among others. As of December 31, 2022, Berkshire’s public market equity portfolio was valued at more than $346 billion. Early in his career, Buffett came across the novel idea to use the float from his insurance subsidiaries to invest elsewhere. Buffett has long eschewed a diversified stock portfolio in favor of trusted investments that would be over-weighted in order to leverage the anticipated return. Over time, Buffett’s investing prowess became so renowned that Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meetings are now a mecca for value investing proponents. Berkshire Hathaway has a long history of operating success and smart investments.

• In 2018, the company put Ajit Jain in charge of all of the insurance operations and made Greg Abel the manager of all other (noninsurance) operations.
• He’s renowned not only for the jaw-dropping success of Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company of which he’s been in charge since 1964.
• Robert McLane founded McLane in 1894 as a retail grocery business before quickly pivoting into wholesale trade.
• In 2011, it was announced that hedge fund managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler would be two of those managers.

What Is Value Investing?

Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company run by Warren Buffett that owns a diverse range of private businesses and significant minority interests in public companies such as Apple. It has a market capitalization of over $715 billion and is the sixth-largest public company in the world. Berkshire Hathaway’s success is largely due to Buffett’s value investing strategy, and its annual shareholder meetings have become a mecca for value investing proponents. The question of succession has been answered with Greg Abel named the heir apparent to Buffett. Insurance subsidiaries represent a large part of Berkshire Hathaway’s holdings. However, the company also manages hundreds of diverse businesses all over the world.

Operating subsidiaries

Class A shares of common stock usually give shareholders a greater amount of voting rights than Class B and other classes of stock. They’re often held by a company’s executives and some members of management so that those in charge of the company can retain control of it in various situations, such as a hostile takeover attempt. Buffett paid for the company with his $4.7 billion of P&G stock plus $1.8 billion in cash, which meant he avoided the capital-gains tax he would have owed if he sold his stock. PCC was founded in Portland, Oregon, in 1949 by Ed Cooley, who rapidly expanded the business during his impressive 41-year tenure. One of his most notable achievements occurred in 1967 when he won a contract with General Electric (GE) to design TF39 engine components. The TF39 was the first high-bypass turbofan engine and the forerunner of GE’s commercial CF6 family of jet engines, which were later installed on Airbus and Boeing aircraft.

After experiencing a drop in business due to the pandemic, PCC’s revenues surged to $9.3 billion in 2023 – an increase of $1.7 billion compared to the previous year.

• Still, it’s good that the question of succession has been answered, considering the advanced age of the Oracle of Omaha.
• Now widely regarded as one of the most successful investors in history, Buffett is often called the “Oracle of Omaha”.
• In 1976 – after decades of steady growth – the company expanded outside of Texas, and by 1990, it had established a nationwide presence.
• Buffett is a philanthropist and teamed with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to launch The Giving Pledge in 2010, encouraging billionaires to donate at least half their net worth to charity.
• These include Duracell, International Dairy Queen, Pampered Chef, Fruit of the Loom, NetJets, and GEICO, among others.

Lubrizol

By the time he was 16, he had amassed a sum that would be equivalent to $53,000 today. The big question is whether Buffett’s replacement can continue the streak of outperforming the market. This becomes even more pressing when you consider that Buffett turned 91 years old in August of 2021. Duracell manufactures high-performance alkaline batteries, specialty cells, and rechargeables.

Warren Buffett is one example of an investor whose focus on value investing has led to incredible success. The company operates 80 distribution centers and one of the nation’s largest private fleets, delivering 10 billion pounds of merchandise across the U.S. each year. Robert McLane founded McLane in 1894 as a retail grocery business before quickly pivoting into wholesale trade. In 1976 – after decades of steady growth – the company expanded outside of Texas, and by 1990, it had established a nationwide presence.

Precision Castparts Corp (PCC) is a leading manufacturer of complex metal components and products for the aerospace industry. In this sector, it specializes in investment castings, airfoil castings, forged components, aerostructures, and highly engineered critical fasteners. This is a list of subsidiaries, equities, and cash equivalents owned by multinational holding company Berkshire Hathaway. Value investing refers to investing in a security with an intrinsic value that’s greater than its market value. The idea is that the undervalued security’s market value should increase to meet its intrinsic value.

In 1969, Duracell was part of the Apollo 11 mission, making it the first battery on the Moon. While studying at Columbia University in 1951, Buffett made his first purchase of the insurer’s stock. Some 45 years later – in 1996 – he purchased GEICO’s outstanding warren buffett company name stock, officially making the company a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshire Hathaway announced its acquisition of Lubrizol in March 2011 for $135 per share in an all-cash transaction, amounting to a total value of $9.7 billion.

In 2018, the company put Ajit Jain in charge of all of the insurance operations and made Greg Abel the manager of all other (noninsurance) operations. Still, it’s good that the question of succession has been answered, considering the advanced age of the Oracle of Omaha. Originally, it was a company comprised of a group of textile milling plants. Since that time, Berkshire has grown to be one of the largest companies in the world, based on market capitalization.

On May 1, 2021, vice chair of Berkshire Hathaway, Charlie Munger, unofficially announced that Warren Buffett would be succeeded as CEO by Greg Abel when Buffett eventually steps down. Abel’s official title is CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy and vice chair in charge of noninsurance operations. In 2010, Buffett announced that he would be succeeded at Berkshire Hathaway by a team comprised of one CEO and two to four investment managers. In annualized terms, Berkshire’s stock generated an average yearly return of 20.1% over that period, while the S&P 500’s annualized gain was 10.5%. McLane was first acquired by Walmart in 1990 and then acquired by Berkshire Hathaway in 2003 for an estimated $1.5 billion. The company, headquartered in Temple, Texas, employs more than 25,000 people and has an annual revenue of more than $50 billion.

The Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO) is an insurance company headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland. The company’s primary business is vehicle insurance, but it also offers property, business, travel, pet, and life insurance. Berkshire Hathaway acquired PCC in 2016 for $32.1 billion, with Buffett later admitting he had “paid too much” for the manufacturing company. Buffett is a philanthropist and teamed with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to launch The Giving Pledge in 2010, encouraging billionaires to donate at least half their net worth to charity.

Understanding Berkshire Hathaway

He’s renowned not only for the jaw-dropping success of Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company of which he’s been in charge since 1964. Buffett is also celebrated for his winning approach to investing, which has created great wealth for many shareholders. His frugal lifestyle, despite being one of the world’s wealthiest individuals, and his easy-going manner have earned him fans across the globe. In 2011, it was announced that hedge fund managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler would be two of those managers.

The company is the sixth-largest public company in the world in terms of market capitalization as of May 2023. Berkshire’s stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange in two classes—A shares and B shares. Class A shares have never split and closed above $500,00 per share in May of 2023 (its Class B shares traded at a more modest $325 on the same date). Warren Buffett became the controlling shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway in the mid-1960s and began a progressive strategy of diverting cash flows from the core business into other investments. As of May 2023, Berkshire Hathaway had a market capitalization of over $715 billion, making it one of the largest publicly traded companies worldwide.

Despite these early achievements, Buffett did not reach the pinnacle of his career until much later in life. He first invested in Berkshire Hathaway — a failing textile manufacturer — in 1962 and spent the next 20 years attempting to revive the textile industry. Fortunately, he had begun using Berkshire Hathaway as a holding company some years previously, and in the decades that followed, he purchased dozens of businesses and stocks.