Berkshire Hathaway

Berkshire Hathaway {{nyse|BRKa}} is a company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, USA, that oversees and manages a number of subsidiary companies. The Companys' business activities include underwriting of property and casualty insurance, candy production and sales at retail, newspaper publishing, retailing of home furnishings, sales of encyclopedias, sales of home cleaning units, manufacture and distribution of uniforms, retail jewelry, and manufacture, import and distribution of footwear.

Berkshire Facts

According to Intrinsivaluator, current valuation for one A share should be $157,199 and $5,240 for one B Share.

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Buffett is respected for his investment prowess and his deep understanding of a wide spectrum of businesses. His annual chairman letters are read and quoted widely, a source of his quotes can be found at Wikiquote - Warren Buffett

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As of 2005, Buffett owns 38% of Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshire's Vice-Chairman Charlie Munger also holds a stake big enough for him to be considered a billionaire in his own right.

Related Topics:
As of 2005 - Charlie Munger

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Berkshire Hathaway is notable in that it never allows its shares to split. Each share is thus worth tens of thousands of dollars. However, Berkshire Hathaway has created a Class B stock, with a price set to 1/30 of that of the original shares (now Class A) but 1/200 of the per-share voting rights. Holders of Class A stock are allowed to convert their stock to Class B, though not vice versa.

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Buffett was reluctant to create the Class B shares, but did so to thwart the creation of unit trusts that would have marketed themselves as Berkshire look-alikes. As Buffett said in his 1995 shareholder letter:

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"The unit trusts that have recently surfaced fly in the face of these goals. They would be sold by brokers working for big commissions, would impose other burdensome costs on their shareholders, and would be marketed en masse to unsophisticated buyers, apt to be seduced by our past record and beguiled by the publicity Berkshire and I have received in recent years. The sure outcome: a multitude of investors destined to be disappointed."

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