Berkshire News Briefs - 3/1/16

CNBC transcript of Warren Buffett on 'Squawk Box' (CNBC)

I never know what markets are going to do. There's never been a time in my life when I know what markets are going to do over a long period of time. They're gonna go up. But in terms of what's going to happen in a day or a week or a month or a year, even, I never felt that I knew it then and I never felt it was important. I will say that in ten or 20 or 30 years, I think stocks will be a lot higher than they are now. [...]

Duracell leaves P&G fold (Cincinnati)

Duracell is no longer part of Procter & Gamble or one of its storied billion-dollar brands after the closing of the Cincinnati-based company's sale of the iconic battery brand.

P&G has closed on its previously announced sale of Duracell to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. P&G invested $1.8 billion into the outgoing brand as it prepared to exit the business unit. In exchange, Berkshire Hathaway tendered 52 million P&G shares worth more than $4 billion back to the consumer products giant. [...]

California, Buffett-owned utilities promoting cooperation among western electrical grids (Chicago Tribune)

California has more renewable energy than it can handle.

Elsewhere in the United States, states with extra power hand it off to neighbors when they need it. That's not happening in the West, where cooperation among electrical grids has historically been an issue. The result: Individual providers can find themselves shutting down their extra power rather than sending it elsewhere. [...]

California and utilities owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., including PacifiCorp and NV Energy Inc., are now on a mission to end that thinking as quickly as possible.

Warren Buffett Is Paying This Executive $41 million (Fortune)

The energy unit of Warren Buffett‘s Berkshire Hathaway on Monday said Gregory Abel, its chairman and chief executive, saw his compensation jump 48% last year to nearly $41 million, reflecting a large incentive award. [...]

Abel, 53, has led Berkshire Hathaway Energy since 2008, and expanded it through a series of acquisitions. Many investors and analysts believe Abel, who has taken on a greater public role at Berkshire, is a top candidate to eventually replace Buffett as Berkshire Hathaway’s chief executive.

Railroads’ freight volume decline continues (Omaha World-Herald)

Rail freight volumes for Union Pacific and BNSF Railway have continued to slump so far in 2016, after a disappointing 2015 that has led to job furloughs and sliced capital spending. [...]

At Texas-based BNSF, owned by Omaha’s Berkshire Hathaway, volumes are down 3 percent in the same period. Top decliners have been metallic ores, coal and crude oil. [...]

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has changed in S&P's eyes (CNBC)

Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's is formally acknowledging what Warren Buffett watchers have known for years: Berkshire Hathaway has transformed itself from an insurance holding company to a full-fledged corporate conglomerate. [...]

Word of the shift accompanies S&P's announcement that it is no longer considering a possible one- or two-notch downgrade of Berkshire's credit rating.

Warren Buffett just announced a $1 million March Madness contest for Berkshire Hathaway employees (Business Insider)

Warren Buffett just announced a crazy new March Madness contest for Berkshire employees.

Speaking with CNBC's Becky Quick on Monday morning, Buffett announced that Berkshire Hathaway employees would be able to win $1 million a year for life if they could pick a perfect NCAA Tournament bracket up until the Sweet 16. [...]

12 humorous lines from Warren Buffett’s latest shareholder letter that will leave you chuckling (Bit-of-News)

“If you want to guarantee yourself a lifetime of misery, be sure to marry someone with the intent of changing their behavior.”

Here, Buffett is actually using a quote from his business partner Charlie Munger to demonstrate that he isn’t a micro-manager when it comes to subordinates. He puts capable managers in charge of his businesses and stays out of their way.