Berkshire News Briefs - 5/14/15

What Is Berkshire Hathaway? (WSJ Moneybeat)

A good overview if you're new here.

At one time, Berkshire made linings for men’s suits. Now, its various 100%-owned subsidiaries make cowboy boots, floor enamel and Ginsu knives; sell ear-piercing tools, diamond rings and encyclopedias; rent topiaries, candelabras and refrigerated trailers; provide insulated bags for pizza-delivery men, uniforms for police officers and shoulder pads for football players… and much, much, much more.

If Berkshire’s wholly-owned companies were independent, nine of them would be among the Fortune 500.

Is 3G Capital Dragging Berkshire Hathaway Over To The "Dark Side"? (Fool)

Warren Buffett was forced to defend his association with 3G Capital from the beginning of the ritual Q&A session at the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting last Saturday, as a shareholder said that "he cannot make a moral case" for the Brazilian investment firm's aggressive cost-cutting programs at acquired companies. Given that Berkshire Hathaway's partnership with 3G Capital is more likely to expand than shrink over the next decade, Berkshire shareholders ought to understand its nature. In fact, 3G's methods are not inconsistent with Mr. Buffett's approach to business, which is, well, all business.

BNSF Extends Rail-Service Upgrades After ‘Substandard’ Performance (WSJ)

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. is extending its operating improvement plans as the railroad seeks to recover from “significant service-related challenges” that the carrier and its customers have struggled with over the past year.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the railroad’s parent, said BNSF has seen its network operate more smoothly lately as it has boosted capacity by expanding lines, adding locomotives and bringing in new hires. “We plan to continue our capital expansion and operational improvement initiatives in 2015 in order to meet customer demand and improve and maintain service levels,” the Berkshire said in its first-quarter 10-Q filing late Friday.

Berkshire’s BNSF to Pave Way for Long-Distance Drone Flights (Bloomberg)

BNSF Railway Co., owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., will be among the first companies to operate a commercial drone over hundreds of miles in a U.S. research program to test the safety of pilot-less flights.

A camera-equipped drone will fly as far as 400 miles (640 kilometers) along tracks in rural areas to inspect rails, BNSF said. The Federal Aviation Administration also chose CNN and Precision Hawk USA Inc. to make flights beyond the visual line of sight of an operator in unpopulated areas, a practice that is currently banned.

The use of drones “increases the frequency of inspection. We have some very remote areas,” Gary Grissum, BNSF’s assistant vice president of telecommunications, said in an interview. “We’re looking to be able to detect very small defaults in the rail.”

North Dakota town evacuated after oil train derails (CNBC)

A tiny central North Dakota town has been evacuated after the derailment of an oil train.

The incident displaced residents of Heimdal, sheriff's officials told local media. The accident involved a BNSF Railway train with 109 cars, five of which were burning. Six to seven cars derailed and the cause of the event is unknown, according to officials.

Buffett defends Berkshire Hathaway's manufactured home unit, addresses other investments (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

Investor Warren Buffett again defended Berkshire Hathaway's manufactured home unit Monday and praised some of his company's biggest investments.

Buffett discussed Clayton Homes' lending practices, interest rates, Berkshire's investments and other topics during an interview on CNBC Monday. Over the weekend, he answered questions in front of more than 40,000 people at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting.[...]

Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary to build wind farm project (Omaha World Herald)

A subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. will announce Thursday that it plans to build the Grande Prairie Wind Farm, which would be Nebraska’s largest wind-powered electric generating plant and increase the state’s wind energy capacity by nearly 50 percent.

BHE Renewables, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, purchased Grande Prairie from Geronimo Energy of Edina, Minnesota, which had acquired it from a Chicago developer in 2013. The other companies arranged leases, got permits and completed other development steps.

Construction is to start this summer on the 400-megawatt project, located about 12 miles northeast of O’Neill, and be completed in 2016, adding to the state’s existing 810-megawatt wind energy capacity.

Berkshire Hathaway Banking on Midwest Solar? (RTO Insider)

Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy disclosed that it recently acquired a site for solar generation development in MISO’s central region. The “site” consists of 74 individual “locations” not to exceed 1 MW each, according to the company’s quarterly property acquisition report. [...]

The company did not disclose exactly where the site is located. The company is not ready to make an announcement on the project, spokesman David Caris said. MISO is a new locale for the company’s solar portfolio. [...]

Berkshire Hathaway’s planned solar expansion in MISO’s coal-dependent central region — which includes Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and parts of Illinois — appears designed to take advantage of increased demand for renewables as a result of federal environmental regulations.

PacifiCorp buying output from Oregon solar farm (Argus)

Berkshire Hathaway utility PacifiCorp will procure renewable generation from a 7MW solar installation in Oregon by the end of 2015. [...]

PacifiCorp expects that the plant will supply power to about 1,000 residents in the town of Bly, Oregon. The company serves 1.8mn customers across Utah, Oregon, Wyoming, Washington, Idaho and parts of northern California.

The 7MW plant will be built on a former 40-acre lumber mill site, with 20,000 solar panels, and will become PacifiCorp's largest operational solar facility in Oregon.

Forest River to break ground this week on Michigan manufacturing facility (Elkhart Truth)

Forest River will break ground this week on a new manufacturing facility in Michigan.

The Elkhart-based company announced plans in January to build three 100,000-square-foot facilities in White Pigeon and create 396 jobs in the next three years. [...]

Forest River is investing more than $7 million in the project and is receiving substantial incentives from state and local governments.

Nebraska Furniture Mart officially opens in The Colony (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram)

Nebraska Furniture Mart executives told hundreds of local dignitaries, employees and others attending a ribbon-cutting Thursday that the store is finally ready to take on the throngs of shoppers it was built for. [...]

Blumkin said the Omaha-based retailer, a unit of billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, had several locations to choose from, but decided on the spot along the Sam Rayburn Tollway and Plano Parkway partly because of the cooperation from local entities. It has its own exit from the tollway, for example.

Due to illness, Noel steps aside for Sivley at Berkshire Hathaway (Travel Weekly)

John Noel, president of Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection (BHTP) and founder of Travel Guard International, MyAssist and Insure America, today is moving to an executive advisory role after being diagnosed with early stages of Lewy Body Disease.

He will be succeeded as president by Dean Sivley, who had served as president of Travel Guard–Americas and was chief e-business officer of Travel Guard’s global operations after Noel left that company in 2009, three years after selling it to AIG. Sivley most recently served as CEO of the car service GroundLink.

Part of Warren Buffett's sugar empire is getting healthier, just slightly (Fortune)

Dairy Queen, according to a letter written by one of its executives that was released by an advocacy group, is pulling soft drinks from its kids menu. The letter, which is dated May 11, says the company along with its franchisees had voted to make the switch. The ice cream chain said the change would take place as soon as September 1 because that’s how long it would take the company to change its restaurant menu boards. After that, only water and milk will be the only beverages on the kid’s menu at Dairy Queen restaurants.

Start saving, Warren Buffett to auction off another lunch (Telegraph)

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has once again agreed to have lunch with the winner of an upcoming auction to benefit a San Francisco charity.

The 16th annual auction to benefit Glide, which provides food and services to the poor and homeless, will be held on eBay from May 31 to June 5, the charity said.

Past auctions have raised about $17.8m, including a record $3,456,789 from an anonymous bidder in 2012. Last year's winner, Andy Chua of Singapore, bid $2,166,766.

Warren Buffett’s Neighbors Selling House, Asking 10 Berkshire Hathaway Shares (Inquisitr)

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is famous for his frugality, living in the same Omaha home he purchased in 1958 for $31,500, yet his neighbors across the street have a slightly higher, and slightly tongue-in-cheek, asking price in mind for their five-bedroom house.

Homeowner Phil Huston says that though the property has been recently valued at $866,000, he and his wife are asking for 10 Class A shares of the company their famed neighbor has helmed for half a century, Berkshire Hathaway. While at first glance, this may not seem like a lot, Warren Buffett has famously never split Berkshire Hathaway’s stock, as Yahoo Homes points out. This means that each individual share of the conglomerate currently sells for $215,800 as of closing Friday, making the asking price of Huston’s home $2.158 million.

See Warren Buffett singing Coke's song (Fortune Video)

Warren Buffett is smiling about Coke again, and singing about it.

The billionaire investor made a special guest appearance at Coca-Cola’s annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday. Buffett was introduced with a video of him singing, ukulele in hand, “I’d like to Teach the World to Sing” from Coke’s classic hilltop commercials.