For years, Abel worked in the shadow of his business partner, David Sokol, who was widely thought to be in the race until he resigned in 2011 amid a stock trading scandal. Abel is not in the shadows now. He led Berkshire’s second-biggest acquisition last year, paying $5.6 billion for Nevada’s largest electric utility, NV Energy. And he was named to the board of ketchup maker H.J. Heinz, which Berkshire took private with partners in a $23.3 billion deal in 2013.
NRG Energy Inc. and MidAmerican Energy Announce Completion of World's Largest Solar Farm (Fool)
Clocking in at 290 MW, the NRG Energy, and MidAmerican Energy Agua Caliente joint venture is a new record -- the largest fully operational solar photovoltaic facility in the world. [...] The Arizona solar facility spans 2,400 acres between Yuma and Phoenix, and is capable of powering 230,000 homes at peak capacity. As is most often the case with utility-scale solar projects, all electricity has already been sold to PG&E under a 25-year power-purchase agreement.
Berkshire to Buy SNC’s AltaLink in Buffett Energy Wager (Bloomberg)
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s energy unit agreed to buy SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.’s AltaLink for about $C3.2 billion ($2.9 billion) in cash to expand in electricity transmission in western Canada. The deal adds 280 substations and about 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles) of transmission lines, according to a statement yesterday from the power unit at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire. [...] Founded in 2002, AltaLink owns more than half the transmission grid in the Canadian province of Alberta and serves 85 percent of its population. Net income for the unit was C$161.6 million on revenue of C$534 million last year, according to a regulatory filing. AltaLink said in a separate statement that it will operate under its current name within the Berkshire business and continue to be based in Calgary.
1 Warren Buffet Business Just Revealed How Utilities Can Unlock the Power of SolarCity (Fool)
Even on a good day when utility executives are in a chipper mood, they will probably still describe SolarCity as a "nuisance". The company is the most visible representation of the distributed solar movement, and for many utilities it is a disruption of the business model they have become accustomed to over many years. Several utilities have taken up opposition to distributed solar, but one of Warren Buffets recent acquisitions, NV Energy, is welcoming SolarCity in to Nevada with open arms -- but not for the reason you may think. Let's take a look at what this Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary is doing to go against the grain and explore why this may be happening.
10 Great Buffett Quotes From Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s Annual Meeting (Fool)
Habits are such a powerful force in everyone's life, including good financial habits. Digging yourself out of the holes that financial illiteracy can cause can take a lifetime. ... A big problem is adult financial literacy. It's harder to be smarter unless the schools intercede. A lot can be done on TV and the Internet, but it is really important to have good financial habits, and anything the school system can do will help.
It's Time to Break Up Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway: The Parts Are Worth More Than the Whole (Fool)
If Warren Buffett announced a program of spinning off and distributing most of his operating companies to shareholders, Berkshire stock would soar in value. As Buffett has noted, the fair value of Berkshire is much higher than it's book value. Spinning off the conglomerate's many subsidiaries would bring this value into the light of day.
1 Overlooked Secret to Warren Buffett's Phenomenal Success (Fool)
What's interesting when you study Buffett's portfolio is while he may not like paying dividends, he sure likes receiving them. Buffett's eight largest holdings all together pay Berkshire more than $1.8 Billion in dividends. [...] Scale matters in total returns, IBM's share price has not done all that much in the short time Berkshire has owned its stake, but I think $258 million (and growing) yearly dividend income gives at least some comfort back in Omaha. Berkshire earns over $1 Billion each year from Wells Fargo and Coca Cola alone. That is almost $3m each day. Dividends add life to your portfolio.
Heinz Factory Severance Cost Rises to $93 Million (Bloomberg)
HJ Heinz Co., the ketchup maker taken private by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and 3G Capital, projected severance cost from factory closures will climb to $93 million as the company shutters two European plants. The new figure was disclosed in a first-quarter regulatory filing today and compares with the $63 million sum listed in the annual report for 2013. Heinz said in February that it was planning shutdowns in Seesen, Germany, and Turnhout, Belgium, after last year announcing closures in Florence, South Carolina; Pocatello, Idaho; and Leamington, Ontario.
EcoWater Systems expands green product portfolio (Water Technology)
EcoWater Systems®, a Marmon Water/Berkshire Hathaway Company, has announced the expansion of its commercial business product line through the acquisition of the Controlled Hydrodynamic Cavitation (CHC) technology and operations from VRTX Technologies of Schertz, Texas, according to a press release. CHC is a proven environmentally-friendly water treatment technology used in HVAC, process cooling and refrigeration systems to effectively control scale, biological growth and corrosion without the use of chemicals, the release reported. Adding CHC technology to a cooling tower saves energy, reduces water consumption and maintenance costs and minimizes or eliminates sewer discharge volume, noted the release.
Dairy Queen CEO: 'People Need To Be Paid A Fair Wage' (HuffPost)
“People need to be paid a fair wage,” Dairy Queen CEO John Gainor told CNN’s Poppy Harlow. [...] And in a clue to his own thinking about the controversy, Gainor told CNN that low wages made it hard to keep good employees. “It takes a lot of time to train people,” he said, speaking at a convention for Dairy Queen parent company Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate owned by Warren Buffett. “You want to make sure you’re paying a very good wage, otherwise you have a lot of turnover.”
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