For-sale signs bearing the name of Warren Buffett’s flagship company Berkshire Hathaway will start appearing Thursday in Des Moines area front yards. [...] But the biggest change for the resulting firm, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices First Realty, might be what appears online. BerkshireHathawayHS.com will host a national home listing database as well as market research for consumers. Ron Peltier, chairman and CEO of the parent company HomeServices of America, said he wants the company’s new website to compete with home listing aggregators Zillow.com and Trulia.com.
In other real estate news, the former Prudential real estate brokerages joining Berkshire Hathaway in the news this week include a large Florida-wide agency, Des Moines, IA, Irvine, CA, and Denver, CO.
Warren Buffett's Biggest Losers (Fool)
The latest update from Berkshire Hathaway about its stock holdings at the end of the third quarter was released last Thursday, and there were three companies that lost Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett a combined $1.4 billion of value from the second quarter to the third. [...] In the second quarter, Berkshire Hathaway's 400 million shares of Coca-Cola were worth just north of $16 billion -- but at the end of the third quarter, that number had fallen down to $15.2 billion, for a total loss of $892 million, or about 5.5%. [...] The difficulties of IBM have been well documented, and the 3% fall in this tech giant over the quarter resulted in a $400 million loss to the $13 billion position Berkshire Hathaway held. [...] Procter & Gamble remains the fourth largest position in the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio, but its 2% dip in price meant that Berkshire saw an unrealized loss of around $75 million.
What Is Buffett's Plan With ExxonMobil? (Fool)
Warren Buffet's strategy is well known. He likes to buy companies with large moats, competitive advantages, and predictable cash flows that will be around for a long time. The ExxonMobil purchase fits very well with that strategy. As the largest non-government owned oil company, it has immense economies of scale, considerable expertise in complex projects, numerous government connections, a fortress-like balance sheet, and a low cost of capital.Carpet for a World of Health and Abundance (Sacramento Bee / PR Newswire)
William McDonough and Patcraft, a division of Shaw (a Berkshire Hathaway Company and the world's largest carpet manufacturer), collaborated to design Butterfly Effect flooring to demonstrate how a product—carpet—can be part of a positive path toward a healthier world. [...] Two percent of proceeds will go directly to help St. Jude Children's Research Hospital fund their life-saving treatments and groundbreaking research in pediatric cancer. "The Butterfly Effect describes the notion in chaos theory that something as small as a butterfly flapping its wings in China can yield something as significant as a hurricane off the coast of Africa. As designers, we like our work to be connected to bigger ideas," says William McDonough. "The Butterfly Effect collection demonstrates the power of inspiring design, the ripple effects of Cradle to Cradle CertifiedCM products, and how we can help pediatric cancer patients globally via research."
How Kinder Morgan Is Like Berkshire Hathaway And Why Both Should Outperform (Seeking Alpha)
At first glance Berkshire Hathaway and Kinder Morgan appear to be very different [...] Although most people won't look far past these superficial differences, those who dig deeper can start to see how similar both companies are. Both Kinder Morgan, Inc. and Berkshire Hathaway share a number of traits which are generally associated with market outperformance.
Warren Buffett Watch: Thinking outside ‘asbestos tort box’ (Omaha World-Herald)
This is a regular feature in the Omaha World-Herald that wraps up a lot of smaller stories about Berkshire Hathaway and Buffett. Here are short excerpts from four unrelated items in the article:
Recent discussion about Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s asbestos risk insurance prompted a contact from Rachel Maines, a visiting professor at Cornell University’s School of Electrical & Computer Engineering. [...] But she disputes that narrative’s facts and says responsibility for asbestos-related claims often is wrongly assigned to property owners and others who are sued. [...]
Berkshire Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett got a good review from the Las Vegas Review-Journal after his MidAmerican Energy division and other parties agreed to a settlement viewed as pro-consumer. [...]
“I’m glad you didn’t try and cash that check,” the nurse said. “This old man is from a nursing home. He sometimes dresses up and pretends he is Warren Buffett, but he is really not.” [...]
In a rare joint interview, Buffett and Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger told Patricia Sellers for Fortune magazine and CNN that they aren’t the smartest guys around. [...]
Warren Buffett: How to teach your children about money (NBC News)
Most parents know how important it is to teach kids about money and managing it properly. There was a study many years ago questioning how to predict business success later in life. The answer to the study was the age you started your first business impacted how successful you were later in life. Teaching kids sound financial habits at an early age gives kids the opportunity to be successful when they are an adult.
Warren Buffett's Secret: He Was a Shoplifter (Fool)
Before Warren Buffett became the world's greatest investor at Berkshire Hathaway, he was a world-class shoplifter. He retold the story, which was published in The Snowball, an authorized biography of his life. Warren Buffett tells Alice Shroeder, the author, that he and a friend had a particular favor for stealing from Sears. [...] What's truly remarkable is that, before this story was ever told in his biography, it wasn't ever really public. Buffett could have taken this story to the grave. But he didn't. He told it, and he told it honestly in a book that he knew millions of people would read.
The Dairy Queen(R) System and Orange Julius(R) Encourage Fans to Name the "Today" Show Goldfish Julius (MarketWatch / BusinessWire)
The Dairy Queen system, part of Berkshire Hathaway , has the perfect name for the "Today" show's Orange Room goldfish mascot: Julius. The show welcomed its newest member and is now turning to viewers to help name it. [...] Vote for the name "Julius" by visiting [http://www.today.com/pets/help-name-orange-room-goldfish-2D11632485] International Dairy Queen, Inc. acquired the Orange Julius concept, famous for its frothy fruit-blended Julius Original drink, in 1987, but the highly popular brand has been around for more than 85 years.
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