Berkshire News Briefs - 7/15/13

Does Berkshire Have the World's Biggest Market Cap? (Fool)

The Fool's Anders Bylund sorts out the confusing numbers provided by Yahoo and Google finance to figure out what the real market cap of Berkshire Hathaway is.

But what about Berkshire Hathaway, then? Run over to Google Finance and you'll find Berkshire's "A" shares listed at a $284 billion market cap, while "B" shares get a $283 billion price tag. Doesn't that add up to $567 billion, far surpassing both Exxon and Apple? Not so fast, my friend. It's time to double-check our data. Take a trip down to Yahoo! Finance instead, and you'll find Berkshire "A" listed at $284 billion, while "B" shares get a minuscule $189 million market cap. Add all of it up, and "B" shares become a mere rounding error next to their "A"-class cousins. What's going on here?

Heinz Profit Climbed 12 Before Buffett, Lemann Takeover (MoneyNews)

HJ Heinz Co., the world’s largest ketchup maker, said fiscal fourth-quarter profit climbed 12 percent ahead of the company’s takeover by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Jorge Paulo Lemann’s 3G Capital. Net income rose to $195.9 million in the three months ended April 28, Pittsburgh-based Heinz said Tuesday in a regulatory filing. That compares with $175.3 million in the same period last year, when the company recorded costs tied to factory closures and job cuts. Berkshire and 3G completed the Heinz deal in June for $28.8 billion including debt financing.

Top 10 U.S. Aircraft Insurers (Insurance Journal)

In case last week's Asiana Airlines crash in San Francisco got you thinking about who insures airplanes, it turns out that Berkshire Hathaway is one of the top U.S. insurers writing aircraft policies in South Korea and the #5 insurer in the United States for aircraft (with $121.9 million in premiums written), but they were not an insurer for that particular plane crash.

Warren Buffett & Brad Pitt Working Main Street (2 Paragraphs)

Small town mayors all over the country have been busy seeking votes — not for re-election but to win Benjamin Moore’s “Main Street Matters” contest. Benjamin Moore & Co. (owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway) just announced the winners: 20 North American towns will each receive a free fresh paint job for their respective downtowns. As a major corporate sponsor of actor Brad Pitt’s charitable organization Make It Right, which builds green homes for communities in need, Benjamin Moore was able to get Pitt as the “Main Street Matters” campaign spokesperson.

Wells Fargo's Buffett Business Drives Wall Street Ascendance (The Street)

Wells Fargo is now a solidly growing Wall Street player, after the nation's largest mortgage lender saw its strongest earnings growth from investment banking and wealth management businesses. [...] Wells Fargo's rising investment banking earnings also reflect burgeoning business the bank gets from its largest shareholder; Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway. The bank's Wall Street-based earnings were likely bolstered by fees it earned in advising and financing Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital's $28 billion acquisition of ketchup maker Heinz in February. [...] Only Wells Fargo and JPMorgan were hired to advise and finance Berkshire and 3G's deal for Heinz, which stands as one of the largest acquisitions of 2013. In 2009, Wells and JPMorgan played a similarly exclusive role in underwriting financing for Berkshire's acquisition of Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

Shaw Announces Sustainability Progress (PR Newswire)

Shaw Industries Group, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company, has released its 2012 corporate sustainability report. Key highlights from the report -- titled "Looking Ahead" -- include: Reclaiming and recycling more than 600 million pounds of post-consumer carpet since 2006; Surpassing 60 percent of Shaw products being Cradle to Cradle Certified; Achieving LEED(R) certification for three additional facilities; Reducing water intensity by 33.7 percent since 2006; Providing 56,196 associate volunteer hours and more than $2 million in contributions to community causes; Breaking ground on a manufacturing facility in Nantong, China to serve the thriving Asia market -- representative of the company's efforts to produce products locally.

Warren Buffett's generosity grows with Berkshire's stock price (CNBC)

With a lot of help from a 39 percent increase in the value of Berkshire Hathaway's Class B stock over the past 12 months, Warren Buffett's donation to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation this year was the largest since his annual contributions began in 2006. Buffett's gift of 17,458,431 shares is worth just over $2 billion at today's closing price of $115.01, a bit below the all-time high of $115.98 reached in mid-June.