Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) didn’t break promises on retirement benefits to employees of a brick-making business it acquired in 2000, the company said in a challenge to a lawsuit filed last month. [...] The plaintiffs have misinterpreted the agreement to acquire Fort Worth-based Acme, Berkshire said today in a statement. The plaintiffs mistakenly contend that the acquisition “required Acme to permit participants to accrue additional defined benefits forever, at the same rate that benefits were being accrued at the time of the acquisition,” Berkshire said today. The plaintiffs also contend the acquisition required “additional 401k matches forever,” at the same rate as the matches in 2000, Berkshire said.
Railroad union rejects contract with BNSF that would have allowed one-person crews (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
A railroad union has rejected a deal with BNSF that would have allowed one-person crews on as much as 60 percent of its tracks. [...] The deal would have allowed BNSF to use one-person crews on tracks where a system capable of stopping the train remotely had been installed. But trains that carry hazardous materials, such as crude oil and chemicals, would have continued to have two-person crews. BNSF operates tracks in 28 states in the western U.S. and two Canadian provinces. The railroad, based in Fort Worth, Texas, said it has Positive Train Control systems installed on about 60 percent of its 32,500 miles of track.
Dairy Queen still light on details of data breach (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
A week after crooks hacked into its customers’ financial data, Dairy Queen still hasn’t released specifics on the breach. Still, the Edina-based company said in a statement Thursday it has “determined that only a small portion of our 4,500 U.S. stores are potential victims of the criminal activity. The stores are not geographically clustered and each has a mitigation plan.” [...] Dairy Queen’s efforts to track the hack may be complicated by its business structure. Almost all of its stores are owned by franchisees, so there could be a multiplicity of information technology systems. Dairy Queen has 3,000 franchisees in the United States, many operating just a handful of stores. Of course, such a decentralized system like Dairy Queen’s may also have impeded a wider hack. [...] Dairy Queen was stricken with “Backoff” malware, and last week the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said that more than 1,000 retailers could have been hit by it. Backoff is believed to be behind a hack announced in mid-August by Eden Prairie-based Supervalu, which affected just over 1,000 grocery and liquor stores; and the massive attack on Target during the 2013 holiday season, which exposed the financial data of 70 million customers.
Shaw files ‘epic’ suit against flooring rival Carlisle (Atlanta Constitution-Journal)
Shaw Industries Group, the Dalton-based carpet and flooring producer, is suing a competitor for trademark infringement and deceptive trade practices over the use of the word ‘epic’. In a lawsuit filed recently in federal court in Atlanta, Shaw claims Carlisle Wide Plank Floors refuses to drop the word “epic” from its marketing, a “mark” that Shaw said it has had exclusive rights to use since 2006. Carlisle, based in Stoddard, NH., calls itself “the epic wide plank floor company.” In marketing material, the company says it produces the widest, longest center-cut plank floors available in the world and that its product is “truly epic.” [...] Shaw said it licenses the use of “EPIC”, which the manufacturer uses as a reference for “engineered wood flooring”, from Omaha-based Columbia Insurance Co., which owns the mark. Both companies are subsidiaries of billionaire Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway investment firm.
Buffett Called Hatch to Gauge U.S. Tax Inversion Policy (Bloomberg)
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett called U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch to gauge Congress’s direction on curbing tax inversions, the senator said today. Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is helping finance Burger King Worldwide Inc.’s purchase of Tim Hortons Inc. and its move to Canada. That transaction could be affected by legislative and regulatory changes being considered in Washington. [...] The call happened before Burger King “reached final agreement” on the deal and “consequently well before it was announced” on Aug. 26, Debbie Bosanek, Buffett’s assistant at Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire, wrote in an e-mail today. [...] Charles Munger, Berkshire’s 90-year-old vice chairman, said yesterday that Berkshire will pay the U.S. government more because of its $3 billion investment in the deal. “Anyone who thinks this is a great tragedy and a great injustice is stark raving mad,” Munger said regarding the fact that the new company will be based in Canada. “It’s a non-event.”
The 1 Peculiar Trait Shared by Warren Buffett's Energy Investments (Fool)
Since the beginning of last year, Berkshire has made two major additions to his portfolio in the energy industry -- ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy -- and has also added significantly to his position in one other -- National Oilwell Varco. On the surface, they look like pretty different companies. You have the largest integrated oil and gas company, a specialist in the Canadian oil sands business, and an oil and gas equipment and services supplier that has a corner on building drill rigs and related equipment. [...] It all comes down to generating fat stacks of cash from continuing operations. It's not just that these companies are really good at generating free cash flow from continuing operations, it's that they are the best at it in their respective realms.Colahan to leave RSA for Berkshire Hathaway in Australia (Post Online)
The names and resumes of the people involved here aren't as important as the bigger story between the lines that Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance is expanding to Asia and Australia.
Post understands Chris Colahan, CEO RSA Asia, is leaving the company to oversee a new operation for Berkshire Hathaway in Australia. [...] Post understands Colahan will help set-up Berkshire Hathaway Specialty in Australia and New Zealand, while Marc Breuil, formerly head of AIG Hong Kong, has been tasked with heading up its Asia operations. Berkshire Hathaway has also recruited Marcus Portbury AIG's regional casualty head for Asia-Pacific. [...] Buffett has reportedly authorised Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance to apply for licenses in Sydney, Europe, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. CEO Warren Buffett the Social Media Leader on Twitter Inc (TWTR) Amongst Fortune 500 CEOs (Insider Monkey)
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. CEO and legendary investor Warren Buffett is the leading Fortune 500 CEO on Twitter Inc, in spite of making just five tweets since he joined the social media network last year, and none since February of this year. While underscoring the reverence people have for Buffett on the one hand, it also speaks to the fact that not many prominent CEO’s are making use of social media [...]
Ex-Bengal Ickey Woods does 'Ickey Shuffle' in Geico ad, internet loves it (CBS Sports)
Former Bengals running back Ickey Woods only played in 37 games during his brief NFL career, but that was long enough for him to give us the 'Ickey Shuffle.' Woods would do the shuffle after every touchdown he scored, which meant 15 shuffles in 1988. The shuffle was everywhere in 1988 because the Bengals made it all the way to the Super Bowl. Thanks to Geico, the shuffle is now back.
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