In his annual letter to shareholders in April, Buffett revealed that both Weschler and his partner Todd Combs once again “handily” beat the market. “They have made Berkshire billions already that we wouldn’t have otherwise made,” the Oracle of Omaha told CNBC that month. “They both have a fundamental combination of soundness and brilliance.” [...] The company is required to reveal its holdings once a quarter, but it has no obligation to explain which manager chose a particular stock or at what price. As a result, just how well the duo have done has remained a mystery. Fortune set out to solve that mystery. We scrutinized public fillings, sounded out investing pros who know Buffett, Combs, and Weschler, and made some educated guesses.
Dairy Queen Customer Data Compromised by Backoff Malware (Bloomberg)
This story first broke last month when DQ suspected their credit card transactions had been compromised. It's back in the news this week because DQ has now confirmed it after investigating.
International Dairy Queen, the ice cream chain owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said customer data were compromised by hackers. The breach with the so-called Backoff malware affected 395 of more than 4,500 U.S. locations, the unit of Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire said today in a statement. The systems contained customer names, and the numbers and expiration dates of their payment cards. Less than 600,000 cards were affected, said Dean Peters, a spokesman for Dairy Queen. The Backoff software has been used to target more than 1,000 businesses, according to the U.S. Secret Service.
Putting the Berkshire Hathaway Brand Before Warren Buffett (NY Times)
More than ever, Mr. Buffett is promoting the Berkshire Hathaway brand instead of himself, the billionaire investor. In a marked shift in marketing strategy, he is pushing the relatively unknown name of his holding company to attract customers to his numerous businesses. [...] The extension of the brand is more than a marketing tactic. At the age of 84, Mr. Buffett faces persistent questions over succession at his conglomerate, whose $336 billion stock market value makes it the country’s fifth-largest company. “This is really an effort to make the brand as recognizable as Buffett himself,” said Greggory Warren, an analyst at Morningstar Research. “He expects the Berkshire brand to replace him longer term.”
And yes, as noted in the article, you can buy Berkshire Hathaway logo clothing, made by subsidiary Fechheimer, here on the Berkshire Wear website.
Warren Buffett rolls out the Berkshire Hathaway brand (Financial Times)
Warren Buffett plans to license the Berkshire Hathaway name to estate agencies in Europe and Asia, in the next phase of a campaign to turn his widely respected investment company into a consumer brand. [...] The number of US estate agencies using the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices brand will swell to almost 1,400 by next spring, said Earl Lee, chief executive of HSF Affiliates, a franchising joint venture between Berkshire and Brookfield Asset Management. The company will then shift to looking for partnerships with big players in parts of the US where it is not yet strong, including the Midwest, and internationally, including the UK, continental Europe and Asia.
Buffett’s MidAmerican to Invest $280 Million in Iowa Wind (Bloomberg Businessweek)
The energy business at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which has already committed about $15 billion to renewable power, plans to invest an additional $280 million in Iowa wind farms. The MidAmerican Energy Co. unit will develop a new site in Adams County and expand another in O’Brien County next year, the Des Moines, Iowa-based company said today in a statement. Blades for 67 new turbines will be built at a Siemens AG plant in the state.
Warren Buffett Tells You How to Handle a Market Crash (Fool)
"It's better to have a partial interest in the Hope diamond than to own all of a rhinestone," wrote Buffett in 2013.
Peter Buffett shows that even the son of a billionaire can pull up those bootstraps (Washington Post)
People always asked Peter Buffett about his famous last name. “Everybody thought I was related to Jimmy Buffett,” said the composer. “That was the constant question.” Sadly for Parrotheads, he had no ties to the “Margaritaville” songwriter. Once in a blue moon, someone would wonder if he knew that investor in Omaha. Yes, he would answer, I’m Warren Buffett’s son. For most of his 56 years, Peter lived a pretty average, anonymous life: marriage, kids, a low-profile music career. That all changed in 2006 when his dad announced to the world that he planned to give away the bulk of his fortune — now estimated at $67 billion — including a billion to each of his three kids’ charities.
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