Berkshire News Briefs - 1/30/15

Berkshire's NetJets Defeats $500 Million IRS Tax Claim (Business Insider)

NetJets Inc, the private jet-sharing company owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc , has defeated a U.S. Internal Revenue Service lawsuit attempting to recoup more than $500 million of unpaid taxes, penalties and interest. [...] The dispute arose from a series of IRS and federal court decisions over nearly two decades, on when and how Columbus-based NetJets should pay federal excise taxes.

Nearly 400 jobs coming to St. Joseph County as RV maker Forest River Manufacturing expands (MLive)

Astute readers may recall a similar story about Forest River also opening a new plant in California two weeks ago. The RV business seems to be booming.

Forest River Manufacturing LLC will spend $7 million to build its first recreational vehicle production site in Michigan over the next three years. The expansion into Michigan, from the company's headquarters in Elkhart, Ind., is expected to mean 396 new jobs over the next five years. [...] According to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, which announced the project as one of two expansions just approved for Michigan Strategic Fund grants, Forest River is launching new products and plans to build the three facilities in the Village of White Pigeon to house each line.

BNSF expanding Bakken rail capacity (The Bakken Magazine)

BNSF’s North Region has experienced the most rapid growth in recent years and is a destination point for materials that support the production of crude oil in the Bakken. BNSF plans to invest approximately $700 million in the North Region to expand rail capacity and continue the implementation of Positive Train Control technology.

Port labor dispute is big concern for railroads Union Pacific, BNSF (Omaha World Herald)

With rail network congestion improving in some of the nation’s grain belt, Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railway are facing another prospective headache: a shutdown of the port complex of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the country’s largest. [...] BNSF spokeswoman Amy Casas said Friday that "unresolved labor issues" at the port complex of Los Angeles and Long Beach have the potential to cut into business at its intermodal terminals in both Los Angeles and San Bernardino. Cranes at the two make 1.5 billion container lifts a year.

MidAmerican earns top J.D. Power ranking (Quad City Business Journal)

Business customers rated MidAmerican Energy Co. the highest for overall satisfaction for the second year in a row, according to the J.D. Power Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study. The 2015 study measures satisfaction among business customers of 101 U.S. electric utilities. [...] MidAmerican took top honors again among 13 companies in the Midwest Region-Large Segment. Its overall satisfaction index score of 718 was up 21 points from last year, and 13 points ahead of the runner-up.

Berkshire Hathaway moves into Canadian insurance market (Toronto Star)

Commercial insurance company Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance is expanding into Canada and bringing with it big coverage rates set to shake up the industry. The company’s Canadian foray comes just 21 days after it entered the U.S. market. In the past two months, it picked up licenses to operate in Hong Kong and Singapore, signalling an ambitious expansion effort by the insurer, owned by business magnate Warren Buffet and known for its predilection for taking risks and growing quickly. [...] Pete Karageorgos, the director of the Insurance Bureau of Canada, said the expansion is "positive and growth is always good," but he warned that the Canadian insurance market has more regulatory oversight and different coverage levels than that of the U.S.

Buffett-Backed Heinz Sells $2 Billion of Bonds to Pay Down Loans (Bloomberg)

H.J. Heinz Co., the ketchup-maker owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and 3G Capital Inc., sold $2 billion in bonds to repay a portion of its term loans, the company said in a statement. The 10-year second-lien notes were sold at par to yield 4.875 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. [...] "Heinz is a household name with a tremendous history, stable products, they have been cutting costs, and in the end there is a Buffett premium priced in that helped the deal,” said Matthew Duch, a money manager at Calvert Investments in Bethesda, Maryland, which oversees more than $13 billion in assets. “The pricing was fair, and people are going in looking to park cash here."

Warren Buffett Bets on These Top Stocks for 2015 (Fool)

At the end of the third quarter, Berkshire Hathaway -- Warren Buffett's company -- disclosed it had a $17 billion stake in Coca-Cola, a $13.4 billion position in IBM, and roughly $5 billion in Wal-Mart. All signs indicate Buffett will continue to hold them into 2015 and well beyond.

Warren Buffett Stocks: 3 Dividend Aristocrats From Berkshire Hathaway's Portfolio (Fool)

To be considered a Dividend Aristocrat, a company must boast a history of at least 25 consecutive years of uninterrupted dividend growth. Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and Wal-Mart are not only part of that select group, they are also included in Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway portfolio.

Berkshire News Briefs - 2/18/14

Berkshire Hathaway released its quarterly stock holdings report (the 13F filing with the SEC). No huge surprises this time around. Here's the list of BRK's holdings showing summary of the changes (green for additions, red for subtractions).

If you have some sort of fetish for page after page of tables of raw numbers, here's the actual SEC filing. Buffett's Berkshire trims some stock stakes (CNBC)

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway eliminated its holdings of Dish Network and GlaxoSmithKline during the fourth quarter of 2013 and pared its holdings of several other companies. The moves are all relatively small, however, especially by Berkshire standards. The Dish shares were worth about $31 million at the current price, and the Glaxo stake totaled only $19.3 million, indicating that they were handled by one of Berkshire's portfolio managers rather than by Buffett himself. Another move appears to be the work of a portfolio manager. Berkshire added 2,948,285 shares of Liberty Global, John Malone's London-based international cable company. That stake was worth about $245 million as of Friday's close. There were no other major additions to the portfolio, other than previously disclosed new or additional shares of Goldman Sachs, General Electric, USG and DaVita Healthcare Partners.

Warren Buffett Portfolio Grows By $12 Billion as He Makes 3 Big Buys (Fool)

Once again, Berkshire held the public stock of 43 companies, but the total value of the holdings grew from $92 billion at the end of September to $104 billion at the end of 2013. The top of the portfolio stayed relatively unchanged, but thanks to the growth in price the stock at American Express, it and IBM swapped places, with American Express now being the third largest holding of Buffett at $13.8 billion, and IBM coming in fourth at $12.7 billion. Wells Fargo still remained at the top of the portfolio, with a value eclipsing $21 billion, and Berkshire still owned 400 million shares of Coca-Cola, now worth more than $16.5 billion.

Warren Buffett's Latest Moves to Invade Your Living Room (Fool)

Yet as it turns out, although most people do not think of Buffett as being active in the media industry, the ninth largest holding of Berkshire Hathaway is DirecTV, which is valued at $2.5 billion. In September of 2011, Buffett and team "only" had a $200 million position of the popular satellite company, but over the course of the next year, his position grew by $1.5 billion and was worth more than $1.7 billion by the end of 2012. Berkshire also has a $775 million stake in Liberty Media, which itself is a media company with equity interests in a variety of other entertainment firms, including a 53% stake in SiriusXM and even the Atlanta Braves. Buffett first amassed the position in Liberty Media in the first quarter of 2013 and has held onto it ever since. Berkshire also has a $660 million stake in cable giant Viacom.

Berkshire Hathaway also added to its position in Liberty Global, and sold part of its stake in Starz and all of its stake in Dish Network.

Warren Buffett's annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders to be released on March 1 (AP)

Billionaire Warren Buffett's annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders will be released on March 1. Buffett will again be able to release his letter on a Saturday this year, as he prefers. Buffett's shareholder letter is one of the most-quoted and best-read business documents because of skill at explaining complicated subjects and sense of humor. Buffett, who is Berkshire's chairman and chief executive, also addresses other topics besides the company's financial results.

Buffett in Talks to Exit Stake in Ex-Washington Post Owner (SF Gate / Bloomberg)

Warren Buffett is in talks to exit his $1.1 billion investment in Graham Holdings Co., the former publisher of the Washington Post, after owning the stock for more than four decades. Graham may swap assets including a business, and possibly shares it holds in Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., according to a regulatory filing today. Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire would turn over its Graham stake, if a deal is signed. [...] Buffett’s company owns 1.73 million shares of Graham, a stake of about 28 percent. The stock closed today $654.90. Graham’s businesses include the Kaplan education unit as well as television stations and a cable network.

ConAgra, Berkshire – some of Uncle Sam's biggest clients – have their own IRS teams (Omaha World-Herald)

It's a nondescript door on the second floor of a downtown Omaha office building, but the work that goes on there is worth billions to the federal government. The office houses Internal Revenue Service agents charged with monitoring taxes owed by Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the Midlands' largest business and one of the IRS's biggest clients. [...] The IRS audits Berkshire's annual tax returns, working out settlements and adjustments years after they are filed — the standard auditing system used for nearly all corporate taxpayers. [...] In Berkshire's case, the nearby IRS agents reflect the company's size and the amount of work it takes to determine the federal taxes that the Omaha-­based conglomerate owes from its estimated $30 billion in pre-tax profit in 2013, plus audits for past tax years. Last year Berkshire reported that the IRS had settled audits of its pre-2005 returns, had tentatively resolved “proposed adjustments” to its 2005-2009 returns and, in 2012, began auditing its 2010 and 2011 tax returns.

Why Warren Buffett Changed His Big Oil Bet (24/7 Wall St.)

Friday’s SEC filings showed investors which stocks Warren Buffett and his portfolio managers have been buying and selling. [...] Perhaps the most unusual and surprising change seen was Buffett’s smaller stake in Suncor Energy Inc. Perhaps the huge stake in Exxon Mobil Corp. is the blame here. It was only in August 2013 that it became known that Berkshire Hathaway had invested in Suncor Energy. What was so unusual about this position is that Suncor is a Canadian oil giant. Suncor is big into Canadian oil sands.

Say “I Do” at DQ® (Business Wire / Marketwatch)

Sorry I'm late with this news. Hope nobody here had to hold their wedding at an inferior establishment last week...

In celebration of Valentine’s Day and the launch of the new Red Velvet Blizzard® Treat, the featured Blizzard of the month, the Dairy Queen system, part of Berkshire Hathaway , is inviting all fans to get married and celebrate with a reception at their local DQ® restaurant on Friday, February 14. [...] “Not only are participating locations offering the venue where the happy couple can say their vows, but we’ll also provide the food for the reception and a signature Red Velvet Blizzard Cake at the restaurant. What better way to start off a sweet marriage than then to do it at a DQ restaurant?”