Berkshire News Briefs - 3/31/16

Buffett's Wells Fargo Stake Hits Level Requiring Fed Review (Bloomberg)

Warren Buffett’s holding in Wells Fargo & Co. reached 10 percent, a level that triggers a Federal Reserve review and could prevent him from buying more shares until he receives regulatory approval.

The billionaire investor’s stake reached that threshold because Wells Fargo has been buying back stock, according to a regulatory filing Monday. The document said the holding is about 506 million shares, the same as on Dec. 31 when it accounted for 9.9 percent. [...]

BNSF furloughs have hit 4,600 employees nationwide (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

In another sign of the fallout of low energy prices, BNSF Railway says it has furloughed about about 4,600 of its employees nationwide over the past several months.

The furloughs amount to about 10 percent of the Fort Worth-based company’s workforce, matching the layoffs made by the railroad in 2007 and 2008, according to statements made by Matthew Rose, executive chairman of BNSF at an energy conference in Billings, Montana. [...]

Berkshire Hathaway Is 35% Undervalued (Fool)

If I sum up $107 per B-share in investments and $82 per B-share for the operating businesses, that gives me a grand total of $189 per B-share. That's 35% more than the current trading price of $140 per B-share.

Increasing Costs And Premiums At Berkshire Hathaway’s Geico (Valuewalk)

All told, both the severity and frequency of claims have been on the rise at Geico, said David Kass, a business professor at the University of Maryland and a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder.

“This resulted from lower prices for gasoline and an improving economy, which led to more miles being driven by policyholders,” Kass said. “These increases in costs to auto insurers reduces their profitability in the short run until appropriate premium increases can be implemented.” [...]

McLane Co. executive advises students on success in business (Richmond Dispatch)

“If you can accept being inconvenienced, then the rewards will be there, because it is noticed,” said W. Grady Rosier, president and chief executive officer of Temple, Texas-based distributor McLane Co., which he noted supplies groceries and other products to retailers and restaurants in every ZIP code in the nation. [...]

McLane grew from a one-man retail shop opened by Robert McLane in 1894 in Cameron, Texas, to become a $48 billion-a-year supply-chain behemoth, mostly by hitching its own trucking business to the rise of convenience stores such as 7-Eleven starting in the 1950s, then the explosion of big-box chain stores such as Walmart starting in the 1970s.

Rosier, 67, grew up in Florida and was the first in his family to attend college. He joined McLane in 1984 and became CEO in 1995, five years after it had been acquired by Walmart.

In 2000, the company was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the holding company managed by billionaire investor Warren Buffett. [...]

International Dairy Queen, Inc. Opens First DQ Grill & Chill® Restaurant in Jordan (BusinessWire)

The Dairy Queen® system, part of Berkshire Hathaway, has opened a new DQ Grill & Chill® restaurant at Abdoun Circle in Amman, Jordan. The opening of this location in Jordan represents the latest country outside of the United States with a DQ brand presence.

SKM Franchise Co. Ltd. has entered into a long-term franchise agreement with American Dairy Queen, Corp. (ADQ) and plans to develop a minimum of 10 locations, including five DQ Grill & Chill® restaurants throughout Jordan over the next five years. [...]