Berkshire News Briefs - 5/22/13

Berkshire filed its quarterly 13F statement with the SEC this week, which discloses which other public companies it owns shares in.

In summary:

New additions: Starz (STRZA) and Chicago Bridge & Iron Company (CBI). (Starz is not really a purchase; BRK received the shares when Starz was spun off from DirecTV in January.)

Big purchases (percentage-wise): 41% increase in National Oilwell Varco (NOV) and 121% increase in Verisign (VRSN)

Also big purchases (volume-wise): Wells Fargo (WFC), Walmart (WMT), DirecTV (DTV), and DaVita (DVA)

Smaller purchases: IBM (IBM), US Bankcorp (USB), and Wabco (WBC).

Large sales: 46% of BRK's Mondelez (MDLZ) shares, a 100% sale of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), and a 100% sale of General Dynamics (GD).

Smaller sales: Kraft (KRFT) and Bank of New York (BK).

With His Magic Touch, Buffett May Be Irreplaceable for Berkshire (NY Times)

The ability to make acquisitions on favorable terms is a testament to Mr. Buffett’s personality and skills as a deal maker. It also highlights an almost unsolvable problem for his company, Berkshire Hathaway, and its shareholders. When its 82-year-old chief executive is gone, who will negotiate such sweet deals? [...] The Heinz deal aptly illustrates the huge issue looming for Berkshire shareholders. Simply put, Mr. Buffett negotiated a deal almost no one else on the planet could have received.

S&P downgrades Berkshire Hathaway's credit rating (Bloomberg)

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. was downgraded by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services Thursday after the credit rating agency changed the way it evaluates insurance companies. [...] S&P said Berkshire's insurance companies, which include Geico and major reinsurance firms like General Re, are riskier than other insurers because their large equity investments that can be volatile. And the ratings agency said insurance regulators could restrict how much money Berkshire's insurers send to the holding company. The ratings agency also said management succession is a concern at Berkshire. [...] S&P said its rating reflects Berkshire's strong financial risk profile and strong balance sheet, and Berkshire still enjoys the highest rating of any insurance company.

The Fool's John Reeves (TMFBane) says that this is The Berkshire Hathaway Story Nobody Cares About (Fool Video)

Buffett Jets Chief Says U.S. Leads Private-Flight Rebound (Bloomberg)

NetJets caters to wealthy individuals and business clients who take a stake in planes in exchange for flight hours. When the U.S. financial crisis sapped luxury flying, the company cut jobs and planes before embarking on $17.6 billion of orders starting in 2010 on a bet that the market would recover over the coming decade. The number of new NetJets owners increased 55 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, Hansell said. Regarding the U.S. market, he said: “I wouldn’t say it’s a huge upswing, but it’s year over year over year, from 2009, been an improvement.”

Warren Buffet Pumps $1.9 Billion Into Iowa Wind Power (Clean Technica)

The new investment will add up to 656 new turbine’s to the wind portfolio of MidAmerican Energy, which has already pumped 1,267 turbines into Iowa since 2004 (Buffet’s affection for wind power is active in other states as well, by the way). When the new turbines are operating the company expects to produce 39 percent of its retail generation from wind power. In comparison, by the end of 2011 the company’s energy mix was dominated by coal at 47 percent, with wind coming on strong at 26 percent. Another 20 percent came from natural gas and oil, with nuclear, hydro and “other” combining for the remaining 7 percent.

1 Thing I Wish Warren Buffett Had Said (Fool)

During the multi-hour question-and-answer session during the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, there was plenty that Warren Buffett and his partner-in-crime Charlie Munger said. But what didn't Buffett say? To find out, I rounded up the group of Fools who attended the Berkshire meeting this year and asked them exactly that. So, Fools, what do you wish Warren had said?

Contest turns kids, teachers into Berkshire Hathaway shareholders (Omaha World-Herald)

“The kids were terrific,” Buffett said Monday after getting sales pitches from five individual and three team finalists in a nationwide contest related to the Secret Millionaires Club, an animated series that teaches children about finances. “They're all winners.” Buffett, who voices his cartoon character in the series, didn’t pick the winners, announced Monday at a luncheon at the Embassy Suites hotel in Omaha’s Old Market. But he backed up his praise by pledging to give 10 shares of Class B stock in Berkshire to each student and the teachers who coached them. That’s about $25,000 worth, altogether, at today’s price. The winning individual and team also received $5,000 from the contest.

Warren Buffett plays salesman-in-chief for Berkshire Hathaway while selling Dairy Queen treats (Washington Post)

Billionaire Warren Buffett isn’t just Berkshire Hathaway’s chairman and CEO. He’s also the chief salesman. Buffett visited a Dairy Queen in Ralston, Neb., Monday evening to serve up the restaurant chain’s new S’mores Blizzard flavor that will be available nationwide June 1. Then he ate ice cream for the cameras.