Berkshire News Briefs - 4/21/15

British regulator challenges US over Berkshire scrutiny (Financial Times)

British regulators have challenged their US peers over their apparent reluctance to subject Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway to tougher scrutiny as part of a worldwide push to make the financial system safer.

The Bank of England has written to the US Treasury asking why Berkshire’s reinsurance operation — among the world’s most powerful — was left off a provisional list of “too big to fail” institutions drawn up by the Financial Stability Board.

Kraft looked around before accepting Heinz offer (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Kraft Foods Group chairman and CEO John Cahill spent St. Patrick’s Day in Munich talking with two of the founding partners of 3G Capital about what a combined Kraft/​Heinz company might look like and how it could succeed.

That detail, among others, is disclosed in a recent regulatory filing describing negotiations that culminated March 25 with an announcement that two of the more historic names in the American food pantry would merge to form the new Kraft Heinz Co. as early as the second half of 2015.

The tale is of a determined suitor, Pittsburgh-based H.J. Heinz Co., pressing its case, even as the Northfield, Ill.-based company that had caught its eye moved quickly to assess its options while at the same time angling for a better offer.

Berkshire Hathaway buys group of small Oklahoma newspapers (WRAL)

Warren Buffett's company is adding a group of small Oklahoma newspapers near Tulsa to its growing group of more than two dozen small and medium-sized newspapers.

Berkshire Hathaway Media Group said Monday that it had acquired six weekly newspapers and the daily Tulsa Business and Legal News from Community Publishers Inc.

Berkshire Hathaway Still Looks Undervalued (Fool)

Every year, I value Berkshire Hathaway using the "two-column" approach (if you're not familiar with this approach, don't worry, I'll explain it). About a year ago, I found it to be at least 20% undervalued at $116 per B-share. Fast-forward to 2015, and the B-shares have advanced 22% to $142. So I figured it was time to sharpen up my pencil and reestimate the value.

My conclusion: The stock is just as undervalued, even at today's higher prices.

Bigger Than Buffett: 6 Advisors Who Matter More to Berkshire Hathaway's Future (Fool)

If you're picking from this list, it almost doesn't matter who the next CEO is. [...] One of the great and often overlooked byproducts of the way Berkshire operates is that it attracts and retains "world-leading" business leaders like the people discussed here. That's partly by design, as Buffett looks for great managers who will stay around when he acquires a company. But it's also a product of the culture itself, which draws executives who want to be part of something great while being given the autonomy to do great things.

Why Warren Buffett Is Destined for a Small Role in American History Books (Fool)

How will historians write about Warren Buffett 100 years from now? Will they treat him like the magnificent Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt? Or will the 84-year-old multibillionaire play a more muted role in history books, akin to the venerated Gilded Age stock operator Henry Clews? [...]

But unlike the great business moguls of America's past, Buffett didn't invent a product or process that will live on in perpetuity. Vanderbilt gave us steamship lines, the New York Central Railroad, and New York City's Grand Central Station. Carnegie industrialized steel, paving the way for skyscrapers and the Golden Gate Bridge. Ford popularized mass production and democratized the automobile. Even J. P. Morgan, while playing a similar role to Buffett's, put America's financial sector on the map by supplanting the Rothschilds and Baring brothers at the summit of global finance.

Up to 44,000 expected for Berkshire Hathaway shareholders weekend (Omaha World-Herald)

Between 42,000 and 44,000 shareholders are expected to celebrate Warren Buffett’s 50 years of managing Berkshire Hathaway Inc. when the company holds its annual meeting in Omaha on May 2. That’s 3,000 to 5,000 more than last year’s record of 39,000 attendees, Buffett’s office said Wednesday.

The estimate is based on an increase in the number of shareholder requests for meeting credentials this year. [...] Not all credentials are used at the meeting, but the requests are a gauge of expected attendance.

Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection Honored For Best Travel Mobile App and Site in The 19th Annual Webby Awards (MarketWatch / BusinessWire)

Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection, part of Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance, announced today that it has been honored for Best Mobile Travel App in the 19th Annual Webby Awards. Hailed as the “Internet’s highest honor” by The New York Times, The Webby Awards, presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. [...]

Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection, made history last year with the introduction of AirCare™, the first-ever low-cost, fixed-benefit flight-protection coverage. The innovative product covers travelers from everyday mishaps such as missed connections, flight delays and lost/delayed baggage. The engine behind AirCare™ is a user-friendly mobile app that allows for ease of purchase and for simple and fast claims processing. Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection is the only travel insurance provider to offer such an app.

National Indemnity moving to new space (Omaha World-Herald)

National Indemnity Co., Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Omaha-based property insurance operation, is moving out of its home office at 3024 Harney St., its location since the building opened in 1950. The company also is leaving other space it occupies nearby.

Over the past year, affiliates of National Indemnity have moved to the Omaha World-Herald Building at 1314 Douglas St., occupying four floors with a total of 108,000 square feet of office space.

By the end of 2016, National Indemnity may move the rest of its operations to the 16-story World-Herald Building, occupying as many as nine floors in all. Those arrangements aren’t final, but the result would be an inter-company lease: The World-Herald Building also is owned by Berkshire.

If it seems like there are an unusual number of Motley Fool stories in here this week, it's because they're ramping up their annual coverage for the annual meeting. Check out and bookmark the Fool's Berkshire Hathaway 2015 coverage page.