Berkshire News Briefs - 2/23/18

Berkshire Hathaway released its quarterly 13F statement, detailing its stock holdings as of Dec. 31, 2017.

Here's a summary from Dataroma.

Buffett's Bumpy Ride With IBM Draws to a Close With Stock Sales

Warren Buffett is just about done with International Business Machines Corp.

His conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., reported that it cut its stake in Big Blue by 94 percent during the fourth quarter, essentially drawing to a close a rare blemish on his investing record. [...]

IBM was always a curiosity for Buffett followers. He’d spent years telling them that technology companies were outside his area of expertise then plowed more than $10 billion into the company in 2011. [...]

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway loves loathed Israeli drug stock Teva

After news hit Wednesday that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway had made a $358 million investment in Israel-based drug company Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, a skepticism lingered even as shares of the heavily shorted stock soared.

What does Berkshire Hathaway see in an out-of-favor drug stock that has languished — Teva shares have declined by roughly half in the past year — that the rest of Wall Street doesn't?

Maybe nothing special. And the size of the bet — at $358 million — is within the discretionary stock selling mandates of Buffett's hedge fund lieutenants, Ted Weschler and Todd Combs. But the bet is consistent with Buffett's long history of value investing, albeit with a twist. [...]

Phillips 66 agrees to repurchase shares from Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary

Phillips 66 said it will buy back shares worth $3.28 billion from a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary, in a transaction that could ease regulatory pressure for Berkshire, the conglomerate run by Warren Buffett.

Phillips 66 will repurchase 35 million shares for $93.725 per share. The buyback will bring Berkshire's stake in Phillips 66 to slightly below 10 percent. [...]

Buffett's BNSF railroad eyes blockchain for shipping freight

BNSF Railway Co, a unit of the billionaire’s conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N), on Monday said it has become the first major U.S. railroad to join the Blockchain in Transport Alliance.

The alliance is a group of more than 200 companies examining how best to use the digital ledger technology behind bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the transport industry.

It hopes to establish blockchain standards in such areas as vehicle maintenance, quality control and fraud prevention.

Among its members are shippers FedEx Corp and United Parcel Service Inc, tire maker Bridgestone Corp, German software company SAP SE, and some banks and brokers [...]

Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Is Cutting More Jobs Across Newspaper Group

BH Media Group is reducing staff by 148 employees and not filling 101 vacant positions, representing a total of about 6 percent of its workforce, the company said Tuesday in a statement. The organization is seeking to trim expenses because of declining advertising revenue.

Among the cutbacks, Buffett’s hometown newspaper, the Omaha World-Herald, is eliminating 43 positions including vacant ones, the paper reported on its website Tuesday. Eleven newsroom employees were among those let go. [...]

Buffett's Business Wire suffers cyberattack

Business Wire, the corporate news release distributor owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, on Tuesday said it has been suffering for nearly a week from a cyberattack designed to disable it.

The company said it has been experiencing a "directed and persistent" denial of service attack since Jan. 31, though customer information has not been compromised.

"Our website slowed down," said Neil Hershberg, a senior vice president at Business Wire, in a phone interview. "At no point were clients unable to get our releases to us. Our distribution network was totally unaffected by this attack." [...]

Warren Buffett is retiring from Kraft Heinz board

Warren Buffett is retiring from the board of directors of Kraft Heinz, a subsidiary of his company Berkshire Hathaway.

"Mr. Buffett decided to retire from the board as he decreases his travel commitments," Kraft Heinz said in a press release on Friday.

The 87-year-old billionaire will retire after his term ends at the Kraft Heinz annual meeting of stockholders, the company said. [...]

Berkshire News Briefs - 1/22/16

Buffett's Mobile-Home Unit Should Be Probed, Lawmakers Say (Bloomberg)

U.S. lawmakers called for federal investigations into Clayton Homes, the mobile-home business at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., after the Seattle Times and BuzzFeed News wrote that the company targeted minority borrowers and charged them higher interest rates on average than whites. [...]

Berkshire Hathaway's Clayton Homes Problem (Fool)

Clayton has always been an interesting case in the manufactured homes business because it has managed to survive and thrive while competitors have gone into bankruptcy. The three largest manufactured housing companies at the turn of the 21st century all went bankrupt in the decade that followed. [...]

Clayton Homes isn't exactly a needle-moving company for the Omaha-based conglomerate. Last year, Clayton generated $558 million in pre-tax profits, a mere fraction of Berkshire's pre-tax earnings of $28.1 billion for the full year. Clayton is a headline risk, and not much more.

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway boosts stake in Phillips 66 (Houston Business Journal)

Warren Buffett’s Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has upped its stake in Houston-based Phillips 66, even as oil prices keep hitting new lows.

The Associated Press reports that Berkshire recently bought an additional 759,295 shares of Phillips 66. That brings Berkshire’s stake to 62.3 million shares, or about 12 percent of the oil refiner's stock, according to the AP. [...]

Berkshire Hathaway: 3 Key Factors for 2016 (Fool)

Berkshire is large and diversified, but three components of the business really move the needle. The performance of its insurance units, the BNSF railroad, and the stock portfolio and put options overshadows virtually everything else.

With that in mind, here are a few particular issues underlying the three major drivers of Berkshire's bottom line. [...]

SolarCity cuts 550 jobs in Nevada after Buffett win (Salt Lake Tribune)

SolarCity Corp. plans to eliminate more than 550 jobs in Nevada, most of its employees in the state, after regulators approved new utility fees on solar rooftops. [...]

NV Energy, a unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. that owns Nevada's two biggest utilities, had sought the changes to recoup money that it says solar customers aren't paying for grid operations. The company's monthly fee for solar customers has jumped 40 percent to $17.90.

Green light for Walnut Ridge (reNews)

Illinois county officials have approved Berkshire Hathaway’s 215MW Walnut Ridge wind farm, overruling the local zoning board of appeals that had rejected the proposal. The Bureau County Board this week voted to grant conditional use permits for 118 turbines. Nine applications were denied because they were too close to two landing strips.

Walnut Ridge is owned by BHE Renewables, a wholly owned subsidiary of Iowa-based Berkshire Hathaway Energy. The project includes two substations. BHE plans to start construction this year and achieve commercial operation in 2017. [...]

5 Mind-Blowing Numbers From Warren Buffett’s Stock Portfolio (Fool)

$128 billion: This is the current market value of Berkshire Hathaway's holdings, assuming it didn't buy or sell a share of stock during the fourth quarter of 2015.

If Berkshire's stock portfolio were a stand-alone company, it would have the 37th largest market capitalization, sitting behind computer giant IBM and just before pharmaceutical company Allergan. [...]

Securities Trader to Forfeit More Than $11 Million for Role in Hacking Scheme (WSJ)

Following up on an older story from last summer...

A securities trader agreed to give up more than $11 million for his role in an international hacking scheme that authorities say netted the group millions of dollars by trading on confidential financial information. [...]

Hackers, the authorities said, targeted Marketwired LP, UBM PLC’s PR Newswire and Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Business Wire.

NetJets Announces Brand Partnership with Tennis Star & Olympian Maria Sharapova (BusinessWire)

NetJets® Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company and the worldwide leader in private aviation, announced its newest brand partnership with tennis great Maria Sharapova. NetJets is the official private aviation partner for Ms. Sharapova.

In her role as a brand ambassador, Ms. Sharapova will work with NetJets’ marketing, with a particular focus on social media. She will also provide exclusive experiences for NetJets owners throughout the partnership. [...]

Berkshire News Briefs - 10/15/15

Buffett Builds Rail Superhighway to Grab Truck Freight (Bloomberg)

After this year, BNSF Railway Co. will be more than 99 percent finished with a second, parallel line to its 2,200-mile (3,500-kilometer) Los Angeles-to-Chicago route. Doubling up will create a rail superhighway speeding deliveries of toys, electronics, autos and other goods, because trains won’t have to yield to each other on sidings as they do on single tracks.

The goal: help the unit of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. grab cargo now going by road. [...]

The Los Angeles-to-Chicago route links the busiest U.S. container port to the biggest mid-continent rail hub, giving BNSF a leg up in the race to find alternatives to those dwindling coal cars. [...]

Warren Buffett: We don't do due diligence — we just look into your eyes (Business Insider)

Buffett told Loomis he met with Precision Castparts CEO Mark Donegan for about 10 or 15 minutes and asked whether he would listen to a takeover offer from Berkshire. After taking this to his board, Donegan agreed to listen to an offer.

And so Buffett made an offer, they talked about it, and then they had a deal. At this point, Buffett said, he and Donegan had talked for about 25 minutes in total.

How does a deal like this come together so quickly? "We basically do no due diligence," Buffett said. "Our due diligence is basically looking into their eyes." [...]

Lubrizol acquires Particle Sciences (Today's Medical Developments)

The Lubrizol Corporation announces that it has acquired Particle Sciences, a leading contract drug development and manufacturing organization with a comprehensive suite of services for the formulation, analysis and production of complex drug delivery solutions. Headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Particle Sciences is a global leader in complex formulations including drug eluting device product development as well as sterile and particulate drug products. This acquisition further expands Lubrizol LifeSciences' pharmaceutical development capabilities, providing full service drug delivery solutions to the market across a variety of dosage forms.

Goldman Sachs is planning to ditch a Warren Buffett-owned news wire for earnings releases (Business Insider)

When Goldman Sachs announces its third-quarter earnings on October 15, it is planning to do so with a release on its own website and a tweet linking to the release.

It does not plan to release its results on Business Wire as it did in the second quarter, however, according to people familiar with the matter. [...]

Buffett's Portfolio Takes Another Hit as Wal-Mart Shares Plunge (Bloomberg)

Billionaire Warren Buffett’s stock portfolio suffered another setback as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plunged after predicting profit would decline in its next fiscal year.

Wal-Mart fell $6.70, or 10 percent, to $60.03 at 4:15 p.m. in New York. That translates to a one-day paper loss of more than $450 million for Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which had about 67.7 million shares as of June 30. [...]

Warren Buffett expected to win over regulators on reinsurers (Financial Times)

Regulators will drop proposals to hit the world’s biggest reinsurance companies with tougher safety rules, thanks in large part to the influence of veteran investor Warren Buffett, the head of one top reinsurer has predicted. [...]

Mr Kieholz said Mr Buffett’s status in US financial and political circles seemed to have helped global reinsurers fend off inclusion in the systemically important insurers list. [...]

Mr Buffett’s office denied suggestions he had directly lobbied contacts in Washington. But he has been outspoken in speeches and interviews, arguing that it would be illogical to apply a systemic label to Berkshire Hathaway, but not to the likes of Apple, ExxonMobil or Walmart.

MasterCard Send Streamlines Berkshire Hathaway Travel Pay (Pymts)

A new partnership was announced yesterday (Oct. 14) between Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection and MasterCard that’s aimed at taking the hassle out of paying travel insurance claims.

Because those payments are traditionally made online, through EFT transaction or paper checks, there’s typically a lag of a few days — or even a few weeks. By using MasterCard Send, Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection can streamline that process by facilitating the payments for those claims nearly instantly. This solution then sends funds directly to a personal account through a debit card. [...]

Warren Buffett (still) doesn't want to be an activist investor (Fortune)

Chatting with Carol Loomis, Fortune’s retired senior editor-at-large, Buffett said that activism is a profitable and "salable form," which happens to be attracting big money right now. But it’s spurred a wave of activism that may have gone about as far as it can go. "They stretch for targets, and you’re seeing that now," he said.

A famous buy-and-hold investor, Buffett compared activism—where investors push companies to make major changes to increase shareholder returns—to an old saying: "If you want to guarantee yourself a life of misery, marry someone with the expectations of changing them."

Warren Buffett dumped on hedge funds for a promise that lasts long enough to get them rich (Business Insider)

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, the chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, dumped on hedge funds during Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit.

He said that as hedge fund assets grow in size, the fund managers don't really need to worry as much about performance. [...]

Berkshire News Briefs - 8/21/15

This was 13F week, where Berkshire Hathaway submits its portfolio changes to the SEC each quarter. As always, you can find updated holdings and activity details at Dataroma.

Berkshire Hathaway hints at new purchase, ups Charter stake (Reuters)

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc on Friday said it boosted its stake in cable TV operator Charter Communications Corp, and signaled it may have another large investment planned after agreeing to buy Precision Castparts Corp in its largest-ever purchase. [...]

Berkshire kept some details about its holdings confidential. The SEC sometimes lets the Omaha, Nebraska-based company delay disclosures of new stakes so Buffett can build them quietly, rather than have investors piggyback on him before he finishes. [...]

Berkshire reported lower stakes in conglomerate Chicago Bridge & Iron Co, media company Viacom Inc and Wabco Holdings Inc, which sells braking and suspension systems for commercial vehicles.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Sells Off Shares in Phillips 66, National Oilwell Varco (WSJ Moneybeat)

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. sold off its shares in Phillips 66 and National Oilwell Varco Inc. in the second quarter, as it continued to cut its positions in energy companies amid a global supply glut that has sent crude prices into a tail spin.

Berkshire had already sold most of its stake in National Oilwell Varco in the first quarter, when it slightly raised its Phillips 66 holdings. [...]

Berkshire’s only new stake in the quarter was a 20 million share investment in auto-paint maker Axalta Coating Systems Ltd., which Berkshire bought from Carlyle Group LP for $28 a share.

Buffett’s Precision Castparts Deal Will Boost Berkshire Hathaway’s Value (Barron's)

Precision Castparts, a once fast-growing supplier to the airline industry, looks to be a good—not great—deal for Berkshire. Its profits have been pressured due to the company’s exposure to the energy industry. The shares were down 20% year to date before the Berkshire announcement, although the company has been a huge winner under CEO Mark Donegan. [...]

Berkshire is paying $235 a share, or about 19 times Precision’s earnings for the fiscal year ending March 2016. That implies an earnings “yield” of 5.5%, well above the near-zero yield Berkshire has been earning on its cash, which totaled $60 billion on June 30. Berkshire’s return could be closer to 7% initially because it will issue about $10 billion of low-cost debt to finance the deal.

After hacking scheme, it's time to rethink how companies use wire services (PR Week)

Business Wire sent an e-mail to its clients with a letter from CEO Cathy Baron Tamraz. It began, "We understand your concerns surrounding this week’s federal indictment of a global hacking…We would like to take this opportunity to provide you with the story behind the headlines."

The letter explained that government investigators asked Business Wire about fewer than 85 releases, and pointed out that no examples listed in the indictments and the SEC complaint were Business Wire releases.

"Despite our extreme vigilance, today's reality is that no one today is immune from hacking," it continued. "We want to reassure you that Business Wire’s systems are safe and secure. We continue to work closely with a leading cybersecurity firm to ensure that they remain so."

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway gets special ASX treatment in IAG deal (Sydney Morning Herald)

The Australian Securities Exchange has granted billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway poll position in any future capital raisings by Insurance Australia Group, which has raised the hackles of some investors, and proxy adviser group Ownership Matters.

IAG, which has one of the biggest shareholder bases of companies listed on the local exchange, was granted a waiver that would permit Berkshire anti-dilution rights for its shares in the insurer.

The initial deal between IAG and Berkshire, which saw the insurance giant sign away 20 per cent of its business to the US group, was announced in June but not many investors were aware of the waiver. [...]

Sure, but what does that mean in layman's terms?

The hidden catch to Berkshire Hathaway’s Insurance Australia Group Ltd investment (Fool Australia)

If IAG were to issue say, one new share for every thirty held, this would normally dilute NICO who currently holds one share in every twenty (5%) on issue. However, as it has this anti-dilution protection, NICO will be entitled to buy one share for every twenty it holds.

If NICO happened to hold 10%, it would be entitled to 10% of the new shares to be issued.

Buffett-Backed Kraft Heinz Cuts 2,500 Jobs as Hees Targets Costs (Bloomberg)

Kraft Heinz Co., the food company that counts Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. as its largest shareholder, is eliminating about 2,500 jobs in the U.S. and Canada under the new management. [...]

Kraft Foods and H.J. Heinz merged in July in a deal orchestrated by Buffett and 3G Capital, which jointly controlled the ketchup company. 3G’s Bernardo Hees, who is now running the combined foodmaker, cut more than 7,000 jobs in 20 months after taking over at Heinz. Berkshire Vice Chairman Charles Munger has endorsed the job cuts, saying such measures are essential to a productive capitalist system.

The alternative to reducing staff is “what happened in Russia,” Munger said at Buffett’s annual meeting in May. “The whole damn economy didn’t work.”

How Much Is Warren Buffett’s $5 Billion Investment in Bank of America Worth Today? (Fool)

At the low point of Bank of America's post-financial crisis struggles, Warren Buffett became its biggest advocate by investing $5 billion of Berkshire Hathaway's money into the nation's second biggest bank by assets. [...]

When you include the $5 billion in preferred stock, Berkshire Hathaway's investment in Bank of America is worth a total of $12.2 billion. That equates to a 144% gain in four years -- 168% if you also account for the roughly $1.2 billion in cumulative dividend payments on its preferred stock.

How rich Warren Buffett was at your age (Business Insider)

By age 43, Buffett's personal net worth was at a high of $34 million. He used some of this capital the year prior to purchase See's Candies for $25 million, reports The Motley Fool, and it became an investment that's still profitable in 2015. But, the mid-1970s proved to be a rough period for Berkshire. By 1974, its decreasing share price lowered Buffett's net worth to $19 million when he reached 44, reports Dividend.

Never one to let his savvy investment skills fall by the wayside, Buffett was able to recover financially. By the end of the decade, he had increased his net worth to $67 million at age 47. By the close of the 1970s, the median U.S. household income was $16,530.

Berkshire News Briefs - 8/12/15

Warren Buffett Cuts Berkshire Hathaway's Biggest Ever Deal In $37B Precision Castparts Buy (Forbes)

On Monday morning, Berkshire confirmed it would buy aerospace components giant Precision Castparts (PCP) for $235 a share in cash, valuing it at $37.2 billion, when including the Portland, Oregon based company’s near $5 billion in debt. The deal comes at a 20% premium to Precision Castparts closing share price on Friday, however, it amounts to a slight discount from the company’s stock price at the beginning of 2015.

For Berkshire Hathaway, the deal is a major bet on U.S. aerospace and manufacturing, bringing a top parts supplier to defense and aviation companies around the world into the coffers of Buffett’s conglomerate. With over $10 billion in annual sales, Precision Castparts would instantly become one of Berkshire’s largest operating subsidiaries. The company reported a $1.5 billion profit in 2014, slightly less than the profits Berkshire’s energy unit generated last year. [...]

Berkshire Gets Dealmaker CEO in Precision Castparts Purchase (Bloomberg)

Mark Donegan, chairman and chief executive officer of Precision Castparts Corp., made more than a few deals of his own before becoming a target of billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Precision Castparts, a maker of equipment for the aerospace and energy industries, has completed at least 30 acquisitions since Donegan took over as CEO in 2002. [...]

Donegan could be an investment in the future for Buffett: The CEO -- typically loath to talk to the press -- was 58 when Precision Castparts filed its proxy in July. Berkshire likes to buy high-quality management teams that can help direct its vast cash pile, said Joel Levington, a senior credit analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. [...]

Berkshire Profit Falls, Missing Estimates on Insurance Slump (Bloomberg)

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. posted second-quarter profit that missed analysts’ estimates because of higher claims costs at insurance units including Geico.

Net income dropped 37 percent to $4.01 billion, or $2,442 a share, from $6.4 billion, or $3,889, a year earlier, the Omaha, Nebraska-based company said Friday in a statement. Operating earnings, which exclude some investment results, were $2,367 a share, compared with the average $3,038 estimate of three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Why Earnings Fell at Berkshire Hathaway, but Book Value Rises in 2015 (24/7 Wall Street)

Berkshire Hathaway pointed out that, since the beginning of the year, Berkshire’s shareholder equity has increased $5.9 billion and its book value per Class A equivalent share was up by 2.4% to $149,735 per share. The company’s insurance float at June 30, 2015 was $85.1 billion. For a comparison to the first quarter book value, Berkshire Hathaway’s book value per Class A equivalent share had increased by 0.5% since the end of 2014 to $146,963 as of March 31, 2015. [...]

Operating earnings came to $3.89 billion in the second quarter, down from $4.33 billion a year ago. Gains from investments fell to $236 million, from $1.96 billion a year ago. [...]

If you add up the investment income and the operating income from the conglomerate structure, Berkshire Hathaway made $4.01 billion in net earnings, down from $6.395 billion a year earlier. [...]

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway loses millions on Australian storms (Australian Financial Review)

US billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway company pointed to reinsurance losses in Australia as it explained a 37 per cent drop in second-quarter profit.

The company's American reinsurance business lost $US115 million ($155 million) directly because of storm damage on the Australian east coast in April, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing in the US. [...]

Symetra’s Deal Enriches Berkshire Hathaway (WSJ MoneyBeat)

Two insurers most people have never heard of just agreed to a deal, and Warren Buffett’s company is another $144 million richer.

U.S. life insurance company Symetra Financial Corp. said Tuesday it agreed to sell itself to Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. for about $3.8 billion in the latest large acquisition in the U.S. by a Japanese life insurer.

Among Symetra’s biggest shareholders: Mr. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. [...]

But Berkshire’s Symetra’s ownership, while hardly a secret, isn’t as widely known as most of its other equity positions. The stock doesn’t show up in in Berkshire’s most widely watched quarterly disclosures. Instead, it’s listed in the holdings for a Berkshire reinsurance unit, General Reinsurance Corp.

U.S. Identifies Insider Trading Ring With Ukraine Hackers (Bloomberg)

Exposing a new front in cybercrime, U.S. authorities broke up an alleged insider trading ring that relied on computer hackers to pilfer corporate press announcements and then profited by trading on the sensitive information before it became public. [...]

The suspected hackers, who are thought to be in Ukraine, allegedly infiltrated the computer servers of PRNewswire Association LLC, Marketwired and Business Wire, a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., over a five-year period.

They siphoned more than 150,000 press releases including corporate data on earnings that could be used to anticipate stock market moves and make profitable trades, the U.S. said. [...]

Can the Insurance Industry Survive Driverless Cars? (Bloomberg)

Auto insurance has long been a lucrative business. The industry collected about $195 billion in premiums last year from U.S. drivers. New customers are the source of so much profit that Geico alone spends more than $1 billion a year on ads to pitch its policies with a talking lizard and other characters. Yet even Warren Buffett, whose company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns Geico, is talking about the long-term risks to the business model. "If you could come up with anything involved in driving that cut accidents by 30 percent, 40 percent, 50 percent, that would be wonderful," he said at a conference in March. "But we would not be holding a party at our insurance company."

International Dairy Queen Opens First Location in Kuwait (Business Wire)

The Dairy Queen® system, part of Berkshire Hathaway, has opened a new DQ Grill & Chill® restaurant at the Marina Mall in Salmiya, Kuwait. The opening of this location makes Kuwait the 27th country outside the U.S. and Canada with a DQ® presence. [...]

Durra Khaled for Foodstuffs Co., a subsidiary of KMGC, has signed a long-term franchise agreement with the Dairy Queen system and plans to develop more than 20 DQ Grill & Chill restaurants and DQ Treat stores throughout Kuwait over the next five years.

Berkshire Annual Meeting Briefs - 4/30/15

Today's post is all Annual Meeting news!

Why Buffett’s Capitalist Woodstock Won’t Endure Like Garcia Jams (Bloomberg)

Tens of thousands of people will gather at an Omaha, Nebraska, arena Saturday to listen to the billionaire and his sidekick, Charles Munger, entertain the crowd with their thoughts about business. As in years past, recording will be strictly off limits.

The prohibition makes the session a must-attend event for investors and financial journalists, who pay jacked-up airfares and hotel rates to be there when two of the business world’s rock stars open their mouths. It also highlights the leeway corporations have in organizing their annual meetings with shareholders.

“There is no legal obligation to make a transcript available, or to allow recording of an event that is otherwise public,” said Joseph Grundfest, a professor at Stanford Law School and a former member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. [...]

Warren Buffett watch: Oracle to be less visible at shareholder festivities (Omaha World-Herald)

Warren Buffett will be somewhat less visible at next weekend’s festivities for Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shareholders, which seems to continue a trend that he and longtime partner Charlie Munger have followed in recent years.

15 Things to Expect at Berkshire Hathaway's Annual Meeting This Weekend (Fool)

There are certain things that Buffett-watchers can expect every year from the meeting, but every year's meeting is a bit different. And this year promises to be particularly memorable, as it marks the 50-year anniversary of Buffett and Munger at the helm of Berkshire.

So what exactly should we expect from this year's edition of the Woodstock for Capitalists? Let's see...

11 quirky events Warren Buffett's 'ringmaster' is planning for Berkshire's blowout this weekend (Business Insider)

Carrie Sova spends the better part of nine months a year planning the annual meeting, reported the Wall Street Journal's Anupreeta Das – from hiring an outside design firm to organize the 40 companies at the exhibition to that time she had to figure out how to park a real Burlington Northern train outside the downtown Omaha hall.

Whatever Buffett’s whims may be, Sova is the one to carry them out: “The big picture—any of the really good concepts . . . stemmed from Warren, and the little details of making all of it come together were worked out by our staff,” Sova, 30, who was Buffett's second assistant before becoming his "ringmaster," told the Journal.

Finally, in case you're going to the annual meeting and want to bring me back something as a gift...

Business Wire Raises Money for Children's Charity at the 2015 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting (BusinessWire)

At this year’s Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting on May 2, Business Wire will once again be raising money for charity selling commemorative gold-colored themed tumblers that benefit a local youth organization.

“What a great opportunity to raise awareness while generating much-needed funds to support advocates for children within the court system. Every dollar that Business Wire raises ultimately helps transform a child’s future,” said Kimberly Thomas, Executive Director of CASA for Douglas County.

A popular show tradition, Business Wire's fundraiser mementos provide Berkshire Hathaway shareholders with creative, limited edition keepsakes that mark the theme of the year’s gathering.

For 2015, Business Wire features a Berkshire Hathaway 50th anniversary coffee tumbler, available for $10 each.

50-Carat Rare Diamond On Display For Berkshire Hathaway's 50th (WOWT)

It may be called the Golden Jubilee, but Borsheim's is celebrating 50 years of Berkshire Hathaway with diamonds!

A 50-carat fancy yellow diamond ring, a set of Exceptional Diamonds from Forevermark, and a limited collection of loose diamonds with Warren Buffett’s signature engraved on the culet will all be available for Berkshire Hathaway shareholders to see and purchase at Borsheim's during Berkshire Hathaway shareholders weekend.

The diamonds are incredibly rare. The 50-carat cushion cut diamond ring is a natural fancy yellow color and retails for $2.3 million. A Berkshire Hathaway shareholder can take it home for just over $1.7 million.

(And don't forget the Brooks Buffett-themed running shoe that I posted last month. I'm a size 10.)

Berkshire News Briefs - 2/28/14

Berkshire Seen Reporting Record Profit as U.S. Rebounds (Bloomberg) http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-27/berkshire-seen-repo...

If you're reading this after Saturday, note that this was a pre-earnings prediction...

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. will probably post record full-year profit showing how Chairman Warren Buffett’s five decades of acquisitions positioned his company to benefit from a rebounding U.S. economy. Net income was at least $18 billion in 2013, according to analysts at Nomura Holdings Inc. and Keefe Bruyette & Woods. That compares with $14.8 billion in 2012, the previous record. Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire said it will release its annual report March 1 at about 8 a.m. New York time.

Warren Buffett Just Bought Another Million Shares of This Company (Fool)

Twelve months ago, Berkshire held zero shares of Exxonmobil. Phillips 66 and ConocoPhillips -- at about $1.4 billion each -- were Berkshire's largest energy holdings. After last year's spending spree, ExxonMobil now stands as Berkshires sixth-largest stock position, in a statistical tie with long-held Procter and Gamble as 4% of Berkshire's stock portfolio. During the same period, Buffett largely sold out of ConocoPhillips, with Berkshire now holding 11 million shares versus more than 80 million held in 2008. Most of the remaining stake in Phillips 66 -- largely received when the company was spun out of ConocoPhillips in 2012 -- will also disappear from Berkshire's portfolio this year, when they're traded back to Phillips 66 in exchange for the company's flow enhancer business.

BNSF to move into tank car ownership with safer oil fleet (Reuters)

BNSF Railway Co plans to move into tank car ownership and buy its own fleet of up to 5,000 new crude oil tank cars with safety features that exceed the latest industry standards, the unit of investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said on Thursday. The unusual step by one of the largest U.S. railroads aims to reduce the risks of moving crude by rail after several recent accidents, including one involving a BNSF train in North Dakota in December.

Berkshire Investors Lacking Data Take Buffett on Faith (Bloomberg)

For years, chemical maker Lubrizol filed annual reports with securities regulators that ran 80 pages or more, detailing everything from its inventory to pension obligations. Today, investors would have to do math to figure out the company’s earnings in public filings. The difference is that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. bought Lubrizol in 2011 for about $9 billion and now lumps together the results with those of several other manufacturing businesses. [...] The disclosure is “sufficient for his shareholder base at the moment,” said Jeff Matthews, a Berkshire investor and author of books about the company. “Once he’s gone, people are going to say, ‘What’s here? What do I really own?’”

Business Wire Halts Direct Feeds to High-Speed Traders (Bloomberg)

Business Wire, the distributor of press releases owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., will stop letting high-speed trading firms purchase direct access to its service. After consulting with Buffett, a billionaire known for holding onto investments for decades, Business Wire decided to avoid the reputational hit from an association with high-frequency traders, who often enter and exit positions in less than a second.

Buffett Toy Bet Expands to Dentists With SmileMakers Deal (Bloomberg)

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to buy SmileMakers from Staples Inc., adding a provider of toys to dentists, doctors and teachers. SmileMakers will be acquired by Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire’s Oriental Trading Co. unit, which sells party and craft supplies, the business said today in a statement. [...] Taylor said Spartanburg, South Carolina-based SmileMakers will offer products from Oriental Trading. The target firm is credited with creating the “treasure box” concept to reward children for enduring dental procedures, according to the statement, which didn’t disclose terms. Oriental Trading said the deal is expected to be completed by the middle of April.

Oriental Trading's offer for SmileMakers wins out in the end (Omaha World-Herald)

Same story, interesting take (as always) from the Omaha World-Herald...

When Staples Inc. put SmileMakers up for sale last October, Oriental Trading CEO Sam Taylor told The World-Herald, he put together a presentation, including a price range, for Oriental Trading Chairwoman Tracy Britt Cool to discuss with Buffett, CEO of Berkshire, Oriental Trading’s parent company. Buffett quickly OK’d a price toward the low end of the range, and Taylor made the offer, which has not been disclosed. The investment banker who was brokering the deal soon called to say that several private equity funds had bid significantly higher. Taylor’s group was out of the deal even before he got to meet SmileMakers’ managers. [...] But a few days after Thanksgiving, the banker called again. Seems some of the private equity investors had dropped out and the others had lowered their bids to Berkshire’s level or below. Was Oriental Trading still interested? “Absolutely,” Taylor told him, at the original Buffett-approved price.

Shaw departing area rug business (Home Accents Today)

Shaw Industries is exiting the area rug business, the company announced in early January. In conjunction with the announcement, the Dalton, Ga.-based company, which is wholly owned by Berkshire Hathaway Inc., revealed plans to convert its Ringgold, Ga., rug facility into a state-of-the-art luxury vinyl tile manufacturing facility. "The economics of the rug business today simply do not allow for future growth or encourage further investment," said Vance Bell, chairman and CEO in a statement. [...] Shaw plans to invest more than $100 million in its new luxury vinyl tile manufacturing facility and when complete, the investment is expected to generate 200 new jobs in the Ringgold area. This investment follows $250 million in other recent expansion announcements by Shaw in carpet tile, hardwood flooring, yarn extrusion, and distribution.

Heinz to close two plants (Just Food)

Heinz has announced plans to close two plants in Europe as the US food giant continues to restructure its business after last year's sale to 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway. The ketchup manufacturer has set out proposals to shut a factory in Turnhout in Belgium and a site in Seesen in Germany. [...] The company, which said the closures would lead to the loss of around 350 jobs, would "consolidate manufacturing and eliminate excess capacity".

Pampered Chef restructures, lays off workers (Daily Herald)

Addison [Illinois]-based The Pampered Chef, which sells kitchenware, said Monday it has laid off workers and restructured its office and distribution center. A spokeswoman at the company, owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., did not provide layoff numbers or when the restructuring occurred. [...] It is one of the largest branded kitchenware companies and direct sellers of housewares nationwide, according to Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway, which acquired the company in 2002.

BofA Reaches Deal With Buffett on Preferred Stake (Bloomberg)

Bank of America Corp., the lender that turned to Warren Buffett in 2011 for a capital injection, reached a deal with the billionaire’s company to change terms so the investment is treated more favorably by regulators. The amendment would allow the bank to count preferred shares with a $2.9 billion carrying value as Tier 1 capital [...] The amendment would force Bank of America to wait at least five years from its approval to redeem the preferred stock. Under the 2011 deal, the bank was able to redeem the preferred stake at any time as long as it paid a 5 percent premium. Berkshire gets 6 percent annual interest on the securities. Under the revised deal, Buffett agreed to give up a dividend provision that gave him the right to recover missed payments.

RSA’s Hester Taps Buffett, Unveils Share Sale to Rebuild (Bloomberg)

After less than a month on the job, RSA Insurance Group Plc Chief Executive Officer Stephen Hester announced a stock sale and tapped Warren Buffett for reinsurance to help strengthen the insurer after its scandal in Ireland. [...] RSA also bought a 550 million-pound reinsurance policy from Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. It’s now “very hard for them to downgrade us,” Hester said on a conference call today. [...] Buffett, 83, and his reinsurance chief Ajit Jain have assumed obligations from other insurers including CNA Financial Corp. and American International Group Inc. seeking to cut risk or narrow their focus. The contracts give Berkshire more funds to invest and make acquisitions.

Allstate Fights Back Against Geico With Esurance and Clever Marketing (The Street)

Allstate has seen customers come and go over the years to rivals like Geico, a unit of Berkshire Hathaway. Geico, known for its clever commercials, is now seeing competition for online customers from its competitor Allstate. [...] Geico has long been known for its catchphrase: "15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance." This motto and an aggressive advertising campaign powered Geico to be one of the leaders in online care insurance. Berkshire Hathaway bought Geico in 1996 and has controlled it ever since. To compete in the same online market, Allstate decided to also go the acquisition route. In 2011, Allstate bought Esurance for $1 billion. The largest publicly traded U.S. home and auto insurer, Allstate is now using Esurance to take on Geico directly.

Berkshire Subsidiary News - 5/1/13

Buffett's Berkshire Buys Rest of Iscar for $2.05B (Fox Business News)

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to pay $2.05 billion to purchase the remaining piece of an Israeli metalworking company that it had acquired a stake in seven years ago. Berkshire is buying the remaining 20% stake in IMC International Metalworking Companies, called Iscar, from the Wertheimer family, the founders of the firm. They had sold the first 80% to Berkshire for $4 billion in 2006, meaning the company doubled in value since the initial transaction.

Heinz shareholders approve acquisition by 3G, Berkshire (Washington Post)

Heinz is one step closer to going private. The Pittsburgh-based ketchup maker said Tuesday that shareholders overwhelmingly approved its acquisition by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital, the investment firm that also owns Burger King.

Heinz Wins Ruling Tossing Investor Suits Over Berkshire Buyout (Bloomberg Businessweek)

HJ Heinz Co. won a judge’s ruling throwing out lawsuits brought by investors seeking to block the $23 billion buyout of the company by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Jorge Paulo Lemann’s 3G Capital. The decision by Pennsylvania state court judge Christine Ward clears the way for a shareholder vote today on the purchase. Nine shareholder lawsuits had been filed before Ward challenging the proposed merger. Three complaints filed in federal court were voluntarily dismissed earlier this month.

New Heinz owners to focus on cutting $14B in debt (Tribune Live)

The $28 billion acquisition of H.J. Heinz Co. is expected to lead to further international growth of the iconic Pittsburgh food company in the long term. But in the short term, a near tripling of the condiment-maker's debt by the buyers, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital, could result in aggressive cost-cutting, analysts said.

AP Twitter hack is lesson on risk of social media, Berkshire’s Tamraz says (Washington Post)

The hacking attack that caused the Associated Press to send an erroneous Twitter post shows the risk of social media, said Cathy Baron Tamraz, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Business Wire. The false information about explosions at the White House, which sent markets down 1 percent in a matter of seconds, is an “object lesson” in why social media aren’t a substitute for press releases, Tamraz said today in a phone interview.

Buffett Trucking Unit Joins Wirtz in Missouri Wine Wager (Bloomberg)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s McLane trucking unit, a supplier to retailers and restaurants, formed a venture with closely held Wirtz Corp. to take a stake in a wine, spirit and beer distributor. The deal to invest in Missouri Beverage Co. is expected to be completed next month, according to a statement yesterday from the companies that didn’t disclose terms. The agreement brings together McLane’s logistics expertise and Wirtz’s experience in the U.S. Midwest, Wirtz President W. Rockwell “Rocky” Wirtz said. [...]

The deal fulfills part of a projection by Berkshire Chairman Warren Buffett last year that the trucking unit would build its business. McLane Chief Executive Officer Grady Rosier bought two alcoholic-beverage wholesale distributors in 2010 and last year acquired Meadowbrook Meat Co., a North Carolina-based business that supplies national restaurant chains.

Israeli Billionaire Opens Industrial Park in Nazareth (Bloomberg)

Wertheimer is now only "Honorary Chairman Emeritus" of Iscar; his son is now the Chairman.

Israeli billionaire Stef Wertheimer, founder of the Warren Buffett-owned Iscar Metalworking Cos., opened an industrial park in Nazareth today that intends to provide manufacturing jobs for local Arab residents. The park’s aim “is to use the skills of the people of Nazareth and surrounding area,” to create export-oriented products, Wertheimer said. Unemployment and poverty rates for Israeli Arabs, who comprise about 20 percent of the country’s population, are higher than for the Jewish majority. [...]

Wertheimer, whose machine-cutting tools company Iscar was bought by Buffett’s Berkshire-Hathaway Inc. for $4 billion in 2006, operates five other industrial parks in Israel’s outlying Galilee and Negev regions that have attracted export-focused manufacturers. He also established an industrial park that opened in Gebze, Turkey in 2003.

Being Green: A GEICO associate on what it's like to be the Gecko (Geico Now)

Jim Parshall is a GEICO senior systems security analyst. He's also a Gecko. "I am an overgrown kid at heart (my cell phone case has Winnie the Pooh on it)," says Parshall, who has made over 100 appearances in costume as GEICO's green spokes-reptile. GEICO Now asked Jim Parshall how someone gets to be the Gecko, and how it really feels to be green.