Berkshire News Briefs - 2/22/17

Berkshire Hathaway released its 4Q 2016 13-F filing last week, revealing the contents of its investment portfolio as of December 31, 2016.

Here's the updated portfolio on Dataroma:

Holdings | Changes

More Commentary:

Massive Changes for Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett Stocks in 2017

Warren Buffett just dropped Walmart and signaled the death of retail as we know it

Warren Buffett's Huge Stake in Apple: What He May See In AAPL

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reveals stake in Monsanto

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On Monday he ate through one Apple. But he was still hungry!

For longtime Buffett watchers, these new investments are not so much of a shock as they might appear to more casual observers. Because what Buffett loves more than anything in the world is paying a fair price for a business with huge barriers to entry. In the parlance of stockpickers, we call these moats (as in the defensive ring of water that surrounded the medieval castles of yore). A good moat means sustainable profit margins and a defensible business model that allows for an investment holding period of (hopefully) forever. [...]

Berkshire Hathaway jumps into wearables with a smart jewelry line

This spring, the jewelry manufacturer and distributor is launching a smart jewelry line called Ela. Starting with wristwear, Ela is the Richline Group's first foray into wearables, which should eventually extend into multiple product categories like rings and earrings.

Using Bluetooth Low Energy, Ela connects to both iOS and Android devices. It has a step-tracking feature that syncs with Apple Health and Google Health Kit. However, the company was interested in producing something better than just a "prettier step tracker," Cliff Ulrich, product innovation manager for the Richline Group, explained to ZDNet. The wearable also connects to the Ela app, through which you can create and share photos and other "memories" like special songs or a voice recording. The memories can be pre-loaded when giving it as a gift to someone else. A user can also create alerts -- the gem on the device will softly glow and vibrate when someone on your alert list is trying to contact you. Users can set the device to glow a certain color for specific contacts or groups. [...]

(Note this news article from last summer: Buffett’s Richline Acquires Wearables Maker Viawear (6/7/16))

Warren Buffett explains why he's investing in a risky tech sector: wearables

"Jewelry is a centuries-old business that isn't going anywhere, so it's a safe bet," [Buffett] told CNBC in an emailed statement. "With the addition of technology, we're simply updating something everyone knows and loves to better fit our modern age."

Richline Group product and innovation manager Cliff Ulrich explained, "We've designed Ela to be jewelry first. As a jewelry company, we understand jewelry retailers and consumers, what they want to carry and buy. They want to create an emotional connection, whether your giving Ela as a gift or buying it for yourself because you just got a bonus. Ela allows you to save memories in your jewelry, like a modern day locket." [...]

Warren Buffett’s late play for electricity distributor Endeavour Energy

The NSW government is heading towards another bumper ­result for its electricity privatisation scheme with Warren ­Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway believed to have entered the auction for distribution business ­Endeavour Energy.

The Australian’s DataRoom column yesterday revealed Berkshire Hathaway is said to be part of a fourth consortium looking to buy the last and smallest of the electricity grid businesses being sold by the Berejiklian government for up to $US3 billion in a process that has attracted strong international attention. [...]

Warren Buffett – How Charlie Convinced Me To Break My Cigar-Butt Investing Habit

My cigar-butt strategy worked very well while I was managing small sums. Indeed, the many dozens of free puffs I obtained in the 1950s made that decade by far the best of my life for both relative and absolute investment performance. [...]

But a major weakness in this approach gradually became apparent: Cigar-butt investing was scalable only to a point. With large sums, it would never work well.

In addition, though marginal businesses purchased at cheap prices may be attractive as short-term investments, they are the wrong foundation on which to build a large and enduring enterprise. [...]

It took Charlie Munger to break my cigar-butt habits and set the course for building a business that could combine huge size with satisfactory profits. [...]

Warren Buffett selling home in Laguna Beach's Emerald Bay for $11 Million

Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet has put his six-bedroom house in Laguna Beach’s Emerald Bay on the market for $11 million. [...]

Buffett, 86, has owned the ocean-view home since 1971, when he paid $150,000 for it. He’s used the house for family vacations for the past 46 years, Dolby said. [...]

Berkshire News Briefs - 1/26/17

BNSF budgets $3.4 billion for 2017 capex plan

BNSF Railway Co. unveiled a $3.4 billion capital expenditure plan for 2017, the Class I announced yesterday. Similar to last year's $3.9 billion plan, the largest component of this year's program will be to replace and maintain the railroad's core network and related assets. That aspect of this year's work will amount to about $2.4 billion, BNSF officials said in a press release. [...] In addition, BNSF expects to spend $400 million on expansion projects; $100 million on positive train control implementation; and $400 million on locomotives, freight cars and other equipment acquisitions.[...]

Kansas logistics park offers big intermodal-growth potential for BNSF

BNSF Railway Co. has tried to accelerate ID efforts in recent years to gain as big a business boost as possible, especially of the intermodal variety. From 2011 through 2015, the Class I each year landed more than $1 billion worth of new or expanded facilities along its lines, including $1.2 billion in 2015 and nearly $1.5 billion in 2014. And as of late last month, BNSF was on pace to surpass the $1 billion mark for the sixth-straight year, with about 100 ID projects on the 2016 docket, including several at a fast-growing, footprint-swelling logistics park in Kansas. [...]

J.B. Hunt, BNSF will review revenue split

[...] Last year, about $3.7 billion -- 60 percent of J.B. Hunt's revenue -- came from its intermodal segment. Michael Haverty, who was the president of Santa Fe Railway when he approached J.B. Hunt with the original intermodal deal in 1989, has estimated that BNSF makes about $1 billion annually from the deal. Santa Fe Railway Corp. and Burlington Northern Inc. merged to form BNSF in 1993.

The "evergreen" intermodal contract automatically renews each year. The agreement stipulates that the revenue division will be negotiated by the two companies and is reviewed quarterly. J.B. Hunt is questioning the period beginning May 1, 2016. [...]

Richline Group Acquires The Aaron Group

Richline Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, and The Aaron Group, a leading jewelry manufacturer and marketer, announced today that Richline has acquired The Aaron Group business effective today, January 11th. [...]

Since its founding as Samuel Aaron Jewelry in 1950, the Aaron Group has grown from its New York City roots to become a widely renowned, vertically integrated international jewelry manufacturer. Along the way, the Aaron Group has remained a true family business and, under the stewardship of third-generation leader Robert (Bobby) Kempler, has achieved stature as a major global force, with operations, factories, partnerships and hundreds of employees in New York, London, Mumbai, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou. [...]

Buffett’s Berkshire Buys German Pipe Company Wilhelm Schulz

A unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to buy Wilhelm Schulz GmbH, a closely held German maker of piping components, as the billionaire accelerates an expansion in Europe.

Rainer Floeth, chief executive officer of Krefeld, Germany-based Wilhelm Schulz, confirmed by phone that Berkshire’s Precision Castparts had agreed to buy the company. He declined to elaborate on terms due to contractual obligations. The deal was first reported by German newspaper Handelsblatt, which cited Precision Castparts Corp. CEO Mark Donegan. [...]

AIG to pay Buffett's Berkshire about $10 billion in insurance deal

American International Group Inc (AIG.N) has agreed to pay roughly $10.2 billion to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) to take on many long-term risks on U.S. commercial insurance policies it has already written.

The reinsurance transaction covers "long-tail" exposures, which are liabilities that emerge long after policies are issued, from excess casualty, workers compensation and other AIG policies issued before last year.

Berkshire's National Indemnity Co unit, led by Buffett's reinsurance chief Ajit Jain, will take on 80 percent of net losses in excess of the first $25 billion, with a maximum liability of $20 billion. [...]

The 5 Operating Principles Behind Berkshire Hathaway’s Uniquely Profitable Reinsurance Business

In his 2015 letter, Warren Buffett warned Berkshire Hathaway shareholders that prospects for the reinsurance industry had dimmed. However, as this week's $1.5 billion deal with The Hartford illustrates, five operating principles will enable Berkshire's reinsurance activity to beat competitors and remain comfortably profitable. [...]

1. Maintain unmatched financial strength and reputation
2. Focus on large, unusual risks
3. Price risks rationally and act quickly
4. Keep risks on your books
5. Stay disciplined and carry on

More Links...

The Brilliant Blunders and Investments that Made Warren Buffet a Billionaire

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Berkshire Hathaway to Offer Services in Malaysia

Berkshire Hathaway Is Not Built To Last

Berkshire's Decker Says Buffett Can Take His Time With $85 Billion

Berkshire News Briefs - 11/7/16

In Rare Interview, Ted Weschler Says He Likes Apple’s “Subscription Element“

In the first detailed explanation of Berkshire’s investment thesis for Apple, Weschler says that the smartphone business had been transformed by the app economy and cloud computing. "As network speed has gotten faster and faster, and with it the information that people can absorb on the network, things like photo applications, and apps, they create a stickier ecosystem". Statistics showed that there was a high likelihood iPhone or iPad buyers would also purchase their next device from Apple, he added: "Once you are fully invested in the App ecosystem and you have got your thousands of photographs up in the cloud and you are used to the keystrokes and functionality and where everything is, you become a sticky consumer." [...]

Cash at Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway hits new record with stock market near highs

Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway closed the third quarter with $84.8 billion in cash, a gain of some $13 billion during the course of 2016.

Buffett over the years has not been shy about using the cash spit off from his vast array of holdings to buy companies, such as his most recent acquiree, Precision Castparts. Even excluding the $20 billion he has said he likes to keep as a cushion, Buffett has plenty of firepower to deploy. [...]

Warren Buffett’s business buys KC area’s largest home builder

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has bought the assets of the Kansas City area’s largest home builder, Summit Custom Homes, the companies announced.

The deal involved Berkshire’s Tennessee-based Clayton Properties. It has been buying other home builders, beginning its own operations with the purchase of an Atlanta business last fall. Clayton has sold 500 homes in its first year.

Clayton Properties bought the operating assets of Summit Custom Homes, which is based in Lee’s Summit. The announcement, which did not disclose terms of the sale, said it included about 1,200 lots in the Kansas City area. [...]

Purchase gives Shaw Industries huge share of wood-plastic composite market

Shaw Industries Group Inc., the world's biggest carpet maker, is taking a harder approach to floorcovering with the purchase of the leading producer of the increasingly popular wood-plastic composite flooring.

The Dalton, Ga.-based Shaw announced Tuesday it has reached a definitive agreement to purchase USFloors, also based in Dalton, for an undisclosed amount. Started in 2001 by Piet Dossche — the brother-in-law of Beaulieu of America co-founder Carl Bouckart — USFloors helped develop the waterproof, wood-like vinyl flooring, as well as cork, bamboo and hardwood products. [...]

Berkshire’s Richline Buys Jeweler Started by Stay-at-Home Moms

Richline Group Inc., a jewelry manufacturer and marketer owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., agreed to buy designs, a brand name and inventory from Silpada Designs as part of a push into sterling-silver products.

Silpada was started by stay-at-home moms and grew into “the world’s largest home party seller of sterling silver jewelry,” Richline said Friday in a statement. Terms weren’t disclosed. [...]

Buffett-Backed Insurer Keeps Getting Sued Over Complex Products

Miller’s nonprofit is one of dozens of employers -- from a bike-courier service in Manhattan to a linen-supply company in Sacramento -- that have sued Applied for deceptive practices. The businesses allege the insurer peddled products regulators hadn’t approved. They complain about being surprised by large bills based on formulas that stacked the deck in the insurer’s favor. California, Vermont and Wisconsin have banned some Applied plans. [...]

As courts weigh these quarrels, this much is clear: It’s a lot of hot water for one of Buffett’s companies. The billionaire, who didn’t respond to requests for comment, tells Berkshire managers that “there’s plenty of money to be made in the center of the court.” In other words, no need to get close to the line, legally or ethically, to make some extra bucks. [...]

Warren Buffett Loves This Business—Maybe a Little Too Much

Warren Buffett watchers know that the reinsurance business has been an important ingredient in his winning formula. Companies like his Berkshire Hathaway sell coverage to other insurance companies for natural disasters and other big events. In return, the reinsurance sellers collect lots of premiums, which they can invest while waiting to pay claims. Buffett has credited this “float” with helping to build one of the world’s great fortunes.

But the business isn’t what it used be. Buffett sold stakes in the world’s two largest reinsurers—Swiss Re and Munich Re—last year, saying their prospects look worse in the next decade than they did in the last. And he put a new leadership team in at Berkshire’s own Gen Re unit to try to reverse more than a decade of shrinking float. [...]

Here's How Long it Takes Warren Buffett to Decide on a Billion-Dollar Deal

When asked by Rubenstein if he receives calls from people every day, hoping to pitch him the “perfect” deal, Buffett said his phone rings less than expected because Berkshire has a clear-cut criteria.

“When somebody calls, I can usually tell within two or three minutes whether a deal is likely to happen or not,” Buffett told Rubenstein. “There’s just half-a-dozen filters,” he said, gesturing toward his head. “And it either makes through the filters or not.” [...]

Newspaperman, Omaha native Stanford Lipsey had ear and trust of Warren Buffett

Omaha native Stanford Lipsey, who led newspapers owned by Warren Buffett to Pulitzer Prizes in Omaha and Buffalo, New York, died Tuesday morning at his home in Rancho Mirage, California. [...]

In 1969 he sold the Sun to Berkshire Hathaway Inc., headed by Buffett, beginning a nearly 50-year relationship between the two men.

When Berkshire’s Blue Chip Stamps division bought the Buffalo Evening News in 1977, Buffett sent Lipsey to Buffalo, eventually making him publisher. [...]

Berkshire News Briefs - 6/9/16

Warren Buffett's NV Energy Is Losing Customers on the Vegas Strip to Renewable Energy (Fool)

MGM Resorts and Wynn Resorts have said that paying $102.6 million to leave the utility and find their own energy is better for their businesses than staying with NV Energy. Las Vegas Sands stopped short of committing $23.9 million to leave NV Energy this year but is leaving its options open. As these resorts collectively make up 7% of the demand in NV Energy's territory, this is a big deal for the utility.

Buffett awaits $8 billion of ‘bad news’ with Kraft Heinz payment (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Warren Buffett is about to get back the $8 billion — plus a little extra — that his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. invested in Kraft Heinz Co. [...]

The 2013 deal allowed the foodmaker to pay a premium to redeem the preferred shares after three years, a period that expires next week. Mr. Buffett has said Berkshire will get about $8.3 billion, replenishing its coffers after the purchase of manufacturer Precision Castparts Corp. in January, one of his biggest buyouts ever.

Berkshire's Underappreciated Growing Dividend Income Stream (Seeking Alpha)

Today though if you look at Berkshire's 6 largest positions, you see something very different. Gone are the concentrated bets that are likely to double several times in the next decade. Instead, you find a very conservative looking portfolio (although still concentrated) that offers a significant amount of yield. [...]

Berkshire will receive over $2.7 billion in dividends from these [six] positions [KHC, WFC, KO, IBM, AXP, PSX] in 2016. That is basically the size of the entire Berkshire portfolio back when Buffett was buying Coca-Cola in the late 1990s.

Why Warren Buffett Dumped AT&T (Fool)

Warren Buffett never bought AT&T shares for Berkshire, nor did the company's other stock pickers. Instead, the AT&T stake was acquired through an acquisition.

In 2011, Berkshire began to accumulate a position in DirecTV, which it added to several times afterwards. [...] AT&T's acquisition paid shareholders $95 per share.

However, only $28.50 of that amount was in cash, with the remainder payable in AT&T stock, which is where Berkshire's AT&T stake originated. After the sale was complete, Berkshire received 59.32 million shares of AT&T during the third quarter of 2015, but they didn't stay in the portfolio for long. Berkshire unloaded 12.7 million of them during the fourth quarter, and sold the rest during the first quarter of 2016.

Buffett’s Richline Acquires Wearables Maker Viawear (Diamonds.net)

Richline Group, a jewelry subsidiary owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, continued its recent string of acquisitions with the purchase of Viawear, a provider of wearable technology for jewelry brands.

Viawear has developed bracelets that filter mobile notifications so wearers receive important alerts without having to check if they missed something. [...]

Lubrizol Names New President and CEO (Chemical Engineering Online)

The Lubrizol Corp. has announced that Eric R. Schnur, currently executive vice president and chief operating officer, has been named president, effective immediately, and will become chairman and chief executive officer on January 2, 2017. James L. Hambrick, the current chairman, president and chief executive officer, having fulfilled his commitment to remain in those roles for five years following Berkshire Hathaway’s acquisition of Lubrizol in 2011, has decided to complete his 38-year Lubrizol career. [...]

A two part interview with PacifiCorp execuitve Stefan Bird (PacifiCorp being the Berkshire Hathaway Energy company serving the Pacific Northwest):

Part 1:
PacifiCorp Green: Adapting to Changing Western Power Markets (Energy Times)

"Renewables are definitely a big part of our story. PacifiCorp is the second largest owner of utility- owned wind assets in the country, number two to our sister utility, MidAmerican Energy [...]

We’ve got about 2000 megawatts of renewables out of our total portfolio of 11,000 megawatts. We have a very large hydroelectric fleet and that contributes to our emission-free supply. There are a number of changes that have been pretty exciting in the last year or so as we collaborate more effectively with our neighbors. The Western grid is all physically interconnected, but we frankly don’t use it as efficiently and effectively as we could." [...]

Part 2:
Utility Excitement: Value for Customers (Energy Times)

"Being part by a large private corporation with very strong financial capabilities gives us some unique advantages, from a cost of capital standpoint and our ability to utilize federal tax credits. That allows us to pass those benefits through to our customers in a unique way. We can focus on the long-term, we’re not worried about quarterly results and we really want to make decisions that make sense for our customers to give them a sustainable value proposition for the long haul."

Auction for Warren Buffett charity lunch starts slow (Yahoo)

The annual charity auction for a private lunch with billionaire investor Warren Buffett is underway.

The top bid to dine with the chairman of the conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc was $200,100 at 12 p.m. EDT on Monday, but will likely surge by the time the auction on eBay ends on Friday night.

Winning bids have reached seven figures every year since 2008, with the record $3,456,789 offer submitted anonymously in 2012. Last year's winner paid $2,345,678.

Auction proceeds go to Glide, a charity in San Francisco's Tenderloin district that provides food, health care and other services to people who are homeless, poor or struggling with substance abuse. Buffett has raised about $20.2 million in 16 auctions for Glide.

Berkshire News Briefs - 5/27/16

Berkshire Hathaway's quartery 13-F came out last week, detailing last quarter's stock transactions. Dataroma has an easy-to-understand format for keeping up with BRK's holdings.

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway takes new stake in Apple, ups stake in IBM (CNBC)

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has taken a new stake in Apple and upped its holdings in IBM, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday.

Berkshire portfolio managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, who each invest about $9 billion, made the investments.

Berkshire's new stake in Apple totaled 9.8 million shares, while the company boosted its shares of IBM by 198,853 to 81.2 million shares. [...]

Berkshire also boosted its holdings in Visa by 3.6 percent to 10.2 million Class A shares, increased its stake in Phillips 66 by 22.9 percent to 75.6 million shares, and upped its stake in Bank of New York Mellon by 3.6 percent to 20.8 million shares.

Berkshire reduced its holdings in a number of big names, as well. It lowered its holdings in Wal-Mart Stores by 949,430 to 55.2 million shares, and dissolved its stake in AT&T, according to the 13F filing.

Berkshire slashed its Procter & Gamble stake by 99.4 percent to 315,400 shares, and also reduced its stake in MasterCard by 5.6 percent to 4.9 million Class A shares.

Why Berkshire Hathaway Bought Into Apple (Fool Video)

Warren Buffett is famously anti-tech, but his company, Berkshire Hathaway, has recently become a shareholder of Apple.

In this segment from the MarketFoolery podcast, Chris Hill, Jason Moser, and Taylor Muckerman explain why the billionaire investor's company bought in. Learn why Apple isn't the same investment now that it was 10 years ago and why this move is much more in line with Berkshire's investment philosophies than it first seems. To wrap-up, the team runs down a couple other moves Berkshire Hathaway announced in its most recent 13-F filing.

Warren Buffett, Quicken Loans founder in Yahoo bid (Reuters)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc Chairman Warren Buffett is backing a consortium vying for Yahoo Inc's internet assets that includes Quicken Loans Inc founder Dan Gilbert, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. [...]

The consortium is in the second round of bidding in the auction for Yahoo's assets, the people said. Buffett is helping finance the offer, one of the people added. [...]

Susan Decker, who worked at Yahoo in several senior roles between 2000 and 2009, including president and chief financial officer, is now a director on Berkshire's board.

Warren Buffett: I may help bankroll billionaire Dan Gilbert's bid to buy Yahoo (CNBC)

Berkshire Hathaway has offered to be a potential finance partner for fellow billionaire Dan Gilbert's bid to buy Yahoo, Berkshire Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett confirmed to CNBC.

"I'm an enormous admirer of Dan and what he has accomplished in Quicken Loans‎. Yahoo is not the type of thing I'd ever be an equity partner in. I don't know the business and wouldn't know how to evaluate it, but if Dan needed financing, with proper terms and protections, we would be a possible financing help," Buffett told CNBC. [...]

Berkshire’s Jain Taps ‘Secret Weapon’ Raiguel to Run Gen Re (Bloomberg)

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. promoted longtime reinsurance executive Kara Raiguel to run the company’s Gen Re unit, which has struggled to expand amid increased competition.

Raiguel will take over from Franklin "Tad" Montross, according to an internal memo confirmed by Gen Re. She has been at Berkshire for 15 years and was a key deputy to Ajit Jain, who runs the company’s namesake reinsurance operation and recently took on responsibility for Gen Re as well.

Read Ajit Jain’s Memo About the New CEO at Berkshire’s Gen Re (WSJ Moneybeat)

For Berkshire investors, the two-page memo may be interesting for more than the information it provides about Ms. Raiguel. It also offers a glimpse of Mr. Jain’s writing style, and it sounds a fair bit like the folksy, jargon-free tone that Mr. Buffett favors. Mr. Jain has long been thought by outside observers of Berkshire to be one of the leading candidates to replace Mr. Buffett. [...]

Richline Group Acquires Nordt (BusinessWire)

Richline Group, Inc. has the pleasure to announce the acquisition, effective June 1, 2016, of John C. Nordt, Inc. [...] a leading manufacturer and supplier of precious metal products to the jewelry industry. Founded in 1872 in New York City, Nordt has operated in Roanoke Virginia since 1984.

Here's How Berkshire Hathaway Gets a $63 Billion Interest-Free Loan From the U.S. Government (Fool)

[...] Berkshire Hathaway has some structural advantages that are less well understood. One of them is the size of its deferred tax liabilities – a whopping $63.2 billion, based on the most recent data [...]

A deferred tax liability arises from temporary differences between a company's financial accounts and its tax accounts. [...] Because it is assumed that companies will eventually realize the investment gains achieved through the sale of their winning stocks thereby incurring capital gains tax, that future liability is reflected on the balance sheet as a deferred tax liability.

Berkshire's NetJets settles U.S. immigration bias claim (Reuters)

NetJets, the luxury plane unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, agreed to settle U.S. charges that it discriminated against immigrant workers by requiring them to provide extra documents to prove their employment eligibility.

The settlement calls for NetJets to be monitored by the U.S. Department of Justice for two years, improve training of its human resources staff, and pay a $41,480 civil penalty, the department said in a Friday statement. NetJets denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle, and cooperated in the probe.

A NetJets spokesman said the government found "inadvertent errors" in the company's processes for verifying workers' residency. "There was no intent to discriminate," he added.

Berkshire Hathaway Insurance Group Invests In Technology (Travel Market Report)

Most people don’t think of Berkshire Hathaway as a hip modern brand. Warren Buffett is a conservative, patient investor who still owns a flip phone and brags he has sent one e-mail his whole life. What many might not know is that his Berkshire holding company owns a travel-insurance business that is making a mark for itself by offering high-tech, consumer-centric products and services. [...]

BHTP continues to invest in mobile technology and will be releasing a new version of its mobile app in the coming weeks. [...]

Berkshire News Briefs - 5/10/16

Did Warren Buffet Just Blow $3.6 Billion? (Fool)

Recently, utility MidAmerican Energy, owned by Berkshire Hathaway, blew away renewable energy investors with a surprising announcement: It plans to invest $3.6 billion in wind energy by 2020. This is one of the largest wind energy investments ever made and is a calculated decision on the part of Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, and MidAmerican Energy. [...]

Warren Buffett's company buys Gallatin's Goodall Homes (Tennessean)

A subsidiary of billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has acquired Gallatin-based Goodall Homes, continuing its expansion into detached single-family and other traditional homes.

The nation's largest manufactured house maker, Clayton Homes of Maryville, Tenn., didn't disclose the price it paid for Middle Tennessee's second-largest homebuilder.

Goodall Homes will become part of Clayton Properties, the site-building group through which Clayton Homes is expanding its portfolio of housing options to homebuyers. Last fall, Clayton Homes bought Atlanta area-based homebuilder Chafin Communities as part of that push. [...]

Warren Buffett-Led Berkshire Discloses Unit's Ties To Iran, Opens Probe (NDTV)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc on Friday said it recently learned that one of its foreign units made sales through a third-party distributor to customers in Iran, despite US sanctions against that country.

In its quarterly report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire said it alerted federal authorities including the Department of the Treasury on Friday about the transactions in question. [...]

Warren Buffett's Jewelry Business Just Bought Gemvara (BostInno)

Gemvara announced Wednesday it has been acquired by Richline Group, a Berkshire Hathaway ($BRK.A) subsidiary that specializes in jewelry marketing, manufacturing and distribution. The acquisition will take Gemvara back to its early roots, providing e-commerce and in-store digital tech for Richline's brands and its customers, which include companies both inside and outside the Berkshire Hathaway umbrella. [...]

Benjamin Moore CEO: Warren Buffett is very particular about the promises he makes (Yahoo)

"There was a period of time where the dealers didn't trust us because there was talk of us going into the big boxes. For the independent dealer, that would have been a broken promise by Warren Buffett," Searles said, adding that the promise was never broken. "Warren is very particular about promises he makes...All we have done is listen more closely to our customers. We have the best products in the world." [...]

Energy Companies Launch Critical Transmission Equipment Sparing Company (PR Newswire)

Six energy companies Friday officially launched Grid Assurance, an independent company providing transmission sparing solutions for critical electric transmission equipment. [...]

Grid Assurance was founded by affiliates of American Electric Power, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Duke Energy, Edison International, Eversource Energy and Great Plains Energy to enhance grid resiliency and give electric transmission owners faster access to long-lead time critical equipment necessary to recover from catastrophic events that could impact the nation's electric grid. [...]

Brokers respond positively to BHSI’s first year in Australia (Insurance Business)

Last week marked a year since Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance received its licence to sell general insurance products in Australia. [...]

According to Donaldson, so far, BHSI has had an overwhelmingly positive response from customers, brokers and (now) new team members their entry to the Australia market. [...]

Applied Underwriters, part of Berkshire Hathaway, is company planning to develop Boys Town farmland (Omaha World-Herald)

A part of Warren Buffett’s empire is behind the planned transformation of a nearly 500-acre tract that includes high-profile Boys Town farmland near 144th Street and West Dodge Road.

Applied Underwriters Inc., acquired a decade ago by Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway, is finalizing a contract to buy the undeveloped land from Boys Town and the DeMarco family, Omaha developer Jay Noddle told The World-Herald.

On a piece of the vast farm area, Applied Underwriters intends to build a new hub for its local workforce of between 650 and 700. The rest is to become more offices, shops, housing, restaurants, hotel rooms, public space and more. [...]

This Running Shoe Was Personally Approved by Warren Buffett (Fortune)

The shoe, known as the Berkshire Hathaway Transcend 3, has a limited run with only 4,080 pairs being sold (evenly distributed among the genders). It will be sold at the 2016 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder’s Meeting, as well as on Brooks’ website and some national retailers. The Transcend 3 retails for $170, slightly above the prices most premium running shoes command.

The Transcend 3 is part of a broader push by Brooks, which aspires to become a $1 billion brand, to sell shoes designed for big events. [...]

Berkshire Subsidiary Briefs - 3/13/16

This week's post got really long, so I broke it in two. News about Berkshire Hathaway itself was in the prior post, news about subsidiaries is in this one.

Berkshire's Specialty-Insurance Unit Opens Europe Operation (Bloomberg)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. will begin offering coverage in Europe through a specialty-insurance unit that Chairman Warren Buffett has been building over the past three years.

Tom Bolt was named president of U.K. and Southern Europe operations, starting June 1, and will be based in London, the Berkshire unit said in a statement Thursday. Gregor Koehler will be president of Northern Europe, effective immediately, and work from Dusseldorf, Germany. [...]

Gen Re to close six offices in restructuring (Business Insurance)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s General Reinsurance Corp. unit will close six of its smaller offices as part of a reorganization of its direct global property/casualty operations, Stamford, Connecticut-based Gen Re announced Friday. [...]

In addition, Gen Re will reorganize its European treaty underwriting resources into five line-of-business teams to support the entire region, Gen Re said in the announcement. [...]

Buffett’s ‘gem’ in Stamford weathers competition (Stamford Advocate)

Years after disastrous claims results buffeted Stamford-based General Reinsurance following its $21.7 billion sale in 1998 to Berkshire Hathaway, the reinsurance carrier is following through on its CEO’s vow last year to maintain underwriting discipline — despite a depressing effect on premiums that insurance companies reinvest to make money.

Gen Re revenue dropped slightly below $6 billion in 2015, off 4 percent from the previous year and roughly flat from its revenue in 2013. Gen Re’s Stamford-based sibling carrier Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group saw a more precipitous decline in revenues, dropping 29 percent to $7.2 billion; combined, the two entities rank among the top five reinsurance underwriters in the world. [...]

Geronimo Energy Expands Partnership with BHE Renewables (PR Newswire)

Geronimo Energy, LLC ("Geronimo") is pleased to announce the sale of its second portfolio of Minnesota Community Solar Garden developments ("the Portfolio") to BHE Renewables, LLC ("BHE Renewables"), one of the most recognized names in the renewable energy industry, and a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy.

Included in the Portfolio is a total of 66 megawatts ("MW") of solar garden projects spread across 21 locations and 16 Minnesota counties, which will be constructed by the end of 2017.

This acquisition is in addition to a previously purchased portfolio of Geronimo-developed community solar gardens by BHE Renewables, bringing the total combined portfolio size to nearly 100 MW. [...]

Berkadia Commercial Mortgage, part of Warren Buffett's empire, buys Cleveland firm (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Berkadia Commercial Mortgage LLC, part of the Berkshire Hathaway family of companies led by Warren Buffett, has entered Ohio by buying a Cleveland-based mortgage-banking firm.

Berkadia snapped up RiverCore Capital, a small firm that has arranged financing for major downtown properties including the Flats East Bank project and The 9 complex on East Ninth Street. Neither party would discuss terms of the deal, which closed March 4. [...]

Will Duracell Be the Next Big Company to Leave Connecticut? (Patch)

Duracell, previously owned by Procter & Gamble and based in Bethel, Conn., recently advertised a job opening for an IT Specialist in Chicago, IL. The Simply Hired posting stated that Berkshire Hathaway has "announced its intent to acquire Duracell by the end of 2015 and Duracell will relocate its corporate headquarters to Chicago."

The News Times reported on Wednesday that the battery maker and Berkshire Hathaway not made an official announcement designating Chicago as Duracell’s new headquarters, however, the online job posting says otherwise. [...]

Richline Group a Proud Member of Jewelry Industry Initiative to Combat Wildlife Trafficking (BusinessWire)

As announced by the U.S. Wildlife Trafficking Alliance, Richline Group—alongside jewelry industry leaders Signet Jewelers and Tiffany & Co.—is celebrating World Wildlife Day by announcing its commitments to support broad jewelry industry efforts in the fight against wildlife trafficking. [...]

Richline Group’s commitments include keeping the elimination of wildlife trafficking part of best practice discussion, and to assist companies that want to update their codes of conduct through the newly introduced IvoryFreeJewelry.com. [...]

The Dairy Queen System Proclaims the End of Winter Five Days Early With Free Cone Day on March 15 (BusinessWire)

In the Dairy Queen® system, a Berkshire Hathaway company, winter is over and spring has officially begun on Tuesday, March 15 with a Free Cone Day benefiting Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals®. [...]

Throughout the day, participating non-mall Dairy Queen and DQ Grill & Chill® locations across the U.S. will serve fans a FREE small vanilla soft-serve cone with the signature curl on top (limit one per customer while supplies last).

“Last year’s success of Free Cone Day surpassed all expectations and we have our fans to thank for that,” added Westrum. “Together we raised $140,000 in one day for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and we averaged serving more than 1,330 cones per store. We are looking to surpass those numbers this year. We can’t wait.” [...]

Berkshire News Briefs - 9/11/15

Warren Buffett says Berkshire Hathaway still shopping abroad (Reuters)

Billionaire investing icon Warren Buffett said on Tuesday there are dozens of countries in which his sprawling Berkshire Hathaway Inc conglomerate would be interested in buying new businesses.

Berkshire earlier this year agreed to acquire a German motorcycle apparel and accessories retailer - a purchase that Buffett described as an advertisement to markets that he is shopping abroad. [...]

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Increases Holdings in Phillips 66 (Business Finance News)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. increased its investment in Phillips 66. The purchase of another 3.51 million shares of US oil refiner has sum the total number of stakes to 11.4%. Berkshire now holds about 61.5 million shares in the company, with net worth of $4.98 billion. [...]

Another reason for Mr. Buffet’s investment might be that Phillips is one of the customers of Berkshire’s Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railroad division. With the supply glut in the economy, more refining opportunities existed for refiners. In order to get the oil to the markets, Phillips turned towards BNSF for service. An increased stake in Phillips 66 might be in best interest of BNSF. [...]

Of would-be $1B fees, trips to Omaha and hardball negotiating: Behind the scenes of the Precision-Berkshire deal (Portland Business Journal)

A new Securities and Exchange Commission document outlining specifics of the pending Precision Castparts Corp. sale to Berkshire Hathaway offers insights into the worlds of two upper-echelon business leaders. [...]

Before the companies reached that point, though, many pieces needed to all into place. Here's a truncated timeline, based on last week's SEC filing. [...]

Follow Buffett Reinsurance Guru’s Sage Advice (WSJ)

When Ajit Jain can’t see value in reinsurance, investors across the industry should worry.

The man who runs Warren Buffett’s reinsurance business told The Wall Street Journal this summer that Berkshire Hathaway would be putting more money into normal commercial and retail insurance instead.

Mr. Jain’s views are almost as influential among reinsurers as Mr. Buffett’s are among investors. [...]

Symmonds' stand a boost for Seattle-based Brooks Running (King 5)

[...] Symmonds, after all, is a two-time Olympian and six-time U.S. Champion. He won the 800-meter race at the U.S. Nationals earlier this year and was poised to be a part of last week's events.

That was until he was asked to sign a document.

"I'm outspoken and some would say brash, arrogant, I don't know," he said. But he felt like he needed to take a stand, when USA Track and Field required him to sign a Statement of Conditions to take part in the competition. He declined. "I wasn't going to sign a contract without all the terms defined."

That's because Symmonds felt the contract required him to wear Nike branded Team USA gear all the time in Beijing. He's sponsored by Seattle-based Brooks Running and says he's a loyal guy.

"I'm a businessman and when you have partners you try to protect those partners. I want to run for Brooks for another 10 years."

Nevada solar update: Senator Harry Reid takes on Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway in net metering debate (Lexology)

Nevada’s solar net metering policies will continue until year end, perhaps in part thanks to Senator Reid (D-NV) who threatened to intervene in the state’s Public Utilities Commission’s (PUC) review of the policy. Senator Reid, a staunch renewable energy advocate, believed that residential solar in Nevada had gotten a “lousy deal,” and pointed the finger at Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway. [...]

While NV Energy is promoting policies that make roof top solar potentially uneconomic, Warren Buffet has boosted his holding company’s massive investments in large-scale renewable energy—an attractive investment in the state due to Nevada’s ample solar incentives for industrial sized installations for businesses and power companies. [...]

Richline Debuts Wearable Style News Website (IDEX)

The Richline Group has announced the launch of a wearables news website. The company says that WearableStyleNews.com “brings a unique ‘function needs fashion’ perspective to the rapidly growing world of wearables.”

The site will focus on the designers, technologists, and manufacturers who are leading the wearable industry. The blog features curated and original content, including interviews with industry talent such as Uri Keren, CEO and co-founder of Hermes Innovation, Scott Amyx of Amyx+McKinsey and Amanda Parkes, Chief of Technology & Research for Manufacture NY. [...]

Warren Buffett On LTCM, Blind Spots, Leverage, and Unnecessary Risk (Alpha Architect)

Notes and highlights from a Buffett talk from 2007. The full talk and Q&A is on YouTube.

Here's an excerpt of Buffett talking about the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM):

The whole story is really fascinating because if you take John Merriwether, and Eric Rosenfeld, Larry Hilibrand, Greg Hawkins, Victor Haghani, the two Nobel Prize winners, Merton and Scholes, if you take the 16 of them, they probably have as high an average IQ as any 16 people working together in one business in the country…an incredible amount of intellect in that room. Now you combine that with the fact that those 16 had had extensive experience in the field they were operating in…In aggregate, the 16 had probably had 350 or 400 years of experience doing exactly what they were doing. And then you throw in the third factor that most of them had virtually all of their very substantial net worths in the business. So they had their own money up. Hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of their own money up. Super high intellect, working in a field they knew. And essentially they went broke. And that to me is fascinating. [...]

Berkshire News Briefs - 6/2/15

NetJets replaces CEO amid prolonged labor dispute (Columbus Business Journal)

NetJets Inc. announced Monday the departure of CEO Jordan Hansell and named a replacement to take over immediately.

The Columbus-based private jet company, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said Adam Johnson, with the company since 1996, including most recently as president of marketing, sales and owner services, has been named NetJets chairman and CEO. Hansell had been CEO since 2011.

NetJets Shuffle: Costs of Deviations from the Berkshire Model (ValueWalk)

At NetJets, Sokol left behind both his thrifty business model and a successor, Hansell, whom Sokol had recruited from Berkshire's energy business. NetJets' pilots love Santulli and have always lamented his departure. They detest both Sokol and Hansell, and especially their low-cost strategy. After Santulli left, management-labor relations deteriorated steadily [...]

Amid mounting turmoil, in early 2015, two Santulli-era senior executives resigned from NetJets and today the company announced that they are returning to lead NetJets: Adam Johnson, a 20-year company veteran, and Bill Noe, who is also a pilot. Their stated goal is to reengage NetJets' employees in the business and return the company to greatness. In other words, they appear poised to abandon the Sokol business model in favor of Santuilli's original concept.

Warren Buffett wants to cut benefits of his planes’ pilots (NY Post)

(Note that this was published last week, before the leadership change.)

Berkshire Hathaway-owned business-jet operation NetJets is trying to wrangle benefit cuts from its pilots union just as boom times fuel a pilot shortage that could crimp its business. [...]

With the economy on the rebound, wealthy customers have returned to buying shares in NetJets planes in exchange for flying hours. Last year it sold 3,500 NetJets Marquis cards — 1,000 more than expected, the exec said.

Nevertheless, NetJets, which almost collapsed during the downturn when CEOs cut back on private-jet travel, said it has to trim costs to meet Berkshire’s demands for greater returns.

BNSF plans temporary layoffs with slipping freight demand (Tulsa World)

BNSF Railway Co. says it’s planning employee furloughs due to slipping freight shipping demand across its rail network.

The company said Wednesday in a statement that it hopes to call back employees “as soon as business needs change.”

The railroad would not say how many employees were being furloughed but that they are “at different locations across our network.”

Kraft Heinz Turns Into A Hedge Fund Favorite As Buffett And 3G Mix Ketchup With Macaroni (Forbes)

Although analysts have a big appetite for synergy loaded deals like Berkshire and 3G’s latest M&A foray, they question whether the company’s lack of organic and natural foods, and its exposure to salty, sugary and fatty goods will prove a roadblock for growth no matter how successful 3G is in cutting costs. Other possible headwinds include dealing with refrigerated foods, technical issues from supply chain changes, and volatile global currencies, issues that have so-far weighed on Heinz sales.

Citigroup analysts, however, see an ability for Kraft to generate new sales as it takes back trademarks it’s licensed out to Mondelez over the two-to-10-years. Heinz’s existing infrastructure in Europe, Brazil and Asia, meanwhile, could help increase the penetration of Kraft brands. Were one to assume 3G’s guidance on synergies is credible, Kraft Heinz also doesn’t look overly expensive when compared against industry competitors.

Las Vegas Casinos Challenging Warren Buffett's Energy Company (Fool)

But the energy industry might be changing faster than Buffett realizes, and Berkshire Hathaway's $10 billion takeover of Nevada utility NV Energy two years ago could show just how problematic the business is today. He's not being challenged by environmentalists or fossil fuel prices; instead, it's casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, NV Energy's biggest customers, that are threatening to leave the utility and find their energy elsewhere.

It takes a lot of power to run a Las Vegas casino. MGM Resorts alone accounts for about 5% of NV Energy's electricity delivered, and that's from just 12 properties. Add in Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas Sands, and data center company Switch, and NV Energy relies on just four customers for about 10% of its demand each year. All the more problematic is the fact that; all four companies want to leave the utility.

Berkshire Hathaway Energy advances utility legislation despite Cantwell pushback (E&E Publishing)

Berkshire Hathaway Energy appears to be successfully pushing legislative language through both chambers of Congress that would scrap federal requirements for utilities to buy power from small renewable and cogeneration units.

But Warren Buffett's multinational conglomerate will have an uphill battle getting that language past the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's top Democrat, Maria Cantwell of Washington.

Cantwell has made clear she plans to work against Berkshire Hathaway Energy's (BHE) proposal, which she said amounts to an attempt by the company to bolster its position in the Western coal markets, where it owns both rail lines and generators. [...]

Richline to Unveil Smart Jewelry Designs and Partnerships at JCK (BusinessWire)

Richline Brands is set to introduce its highly anticipated foray into the world of wearable technology with an array of smart jewelry offerings at the JCK trade show in Las Vegas. [...]

Buffett Auction Draws $1 Million Bid, Exceeding 2014 Pace (Bloomberg)

Warren Buffett’s annual lunch auction drew a top offer of more than $1 million in the charity event’s first full day, exceeding the pace of last year’s bidding.

The annual charity event, now in its 16th year, started Sunday evening and concludes Friday. The highest offer was $1,000,100 as of 10:46 a.m. Monday in San Francisco, according to Ebay Inc.’s website. [...]

Buffett, 84, has raised $17.8 million for San Francisco’s Glide Foundation by offering admirers an avenue to get face time with him. Glide, which offers free meals, affordable housing and counseling for the poor, is led by the Rev. Cecil Williams, 85.

Origins of a Buffett and Mark Cuban sighting in midtown Omaha (Omaha World Herald)

“Someone just gave me Warren Buffett’s email,” Cuban had replied. “I’m going to email him and see if he’ll meet with me. I really want to talk with Warren Buffett.”

So there they were, Buffett in a nice suit and Cuban in a polo shirt, waiting for a driver to do a U-turn on Farnam Street to pick them up for a trip to the Dairy Queen [...]

Berkshire News Briefs - 9/15/13

AIG Said to Opt Against Buffett Reinsurance Amid Clash (Bloomberg)

American International Group Inc. (AIG) has decided against signing new reinsurance contracts with Berkshire Hathaway Inc. after Warren Buffett’s company started a commercial insurer competing against AIG, according to a person with knowledge of the decision. [...] Buffett said in May he was planning to add sales of commercial insurance after hiring executives from AIG including Peter Eastwood, who ran the company’s property-casualty operation in the Americas. The move challenges New York-based AIG in one of its main markets and expands Berkshire beyond its strengths in U.S. personal auto coverage and reinsurance.

Berkshire ‘A’ Shares, Soon Available In Pennies (WSJ)

Starting Sept. 16, the New York Stock Exchange plans to begin trading and quoting Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in pennies, according to a Thursday notice from the exchange. That means that the stock’s mammoth price – $168,180 on Thursday afternoon – will move in one-cent increments, rather than the current ten cents.

Improved Underwriting Results Boost RAA Companies' 1H Net Income (Property Casualty 360)

A group of 18 reinsurers belonging to the Reinsurance Association of America reported a combined 2013 first-half net income of just under $4.8 billion, up from $3.6 billion for the same companies a year ago, as improved underwriting income more than offset a slight drop in net premiums written. Similar to 2012’s first half, Berkshire Hathaway’s National Indemnity Co. accounted for over half of the group’s net income in the first six months of this year. National Indemnity reported just under $3 billion in first-half net income, far outpacing Transatlantic Reinsurance, which placed second among the group with $364.4 million in net income.

U.S. judge approves $72 mln fraud pact with Berkshire's Gen Re (Reuters)

A U.S. judge on Tuesday approved a $72 million settlement by Berkshire Hathaway Inc's General Re Corp to resolve claims that it engaged in a sham deal that helped fraudulently inflate American International Group Inc's loss reserves. The settlement's approval brings to an end nine years of shareholder litigation revolving around AIG accounting practices dating to 1999.

Shaw Industries opens carpet tile plant in China (Fibre 2 Fashion)

Berkshire Hathaway’s Shaw Industries Group, Inc. (Shaw) has announced its grand opening of a 210,000-square-foot carpet tile plant in Nantong, China – a port city 65 miles north of Shanghai. This facility offers customers in Asia quicker access to a wider range of completely recyclable, Cradle-to-Cradle-certified products, which are PVC-free and bitumen-free. [...] Expected to employ approximately 250 at full capacity, over 100 Shaw associates are onboard at this time. [...] Products manufactured in China will be sold for installation in the growing Asia market and there are no plans to export them back to the U.S.

SidePlate’s Active Projects More Than Double in 36 Months (Herald Online)

SidePlate®, a Berkshire Hathaway company that designs innovative steel building connections, today announced that it has doubled its employee base in the last 36 months to accommodate rising demand for its consulting and project-management services. As another indicator of the Company’s dramatic growth, SidePlate’s active projects have more than doubled since July 2010. [...] In 2009, Berkshire Hathaway’s MiTek® acquired SidePlate because of the Company’s sterling reputation, its innovative consulting services and technology, and its potential for the very growth that SidePlate is experiencing today.

Truss and Wall-Panel Component Manufacturers Stand Ready to Respond to Framing Labor Shortage (Herald Online)

“Housing starts are showing sustained growth, and they are predicted to spike to a run rate of 1.3 million by the end of 2014, and 1.5 million in 2015,” said MiTek’s Gregg Renner. “That’s good news, but it also indicates that the framing labor shortage won’t ease, and builders need a different approach to framing houses. That’s what MiTek’s component manufacturers offer.”

Berkshire’s Richline Makes Jewelry Deal With American Greetings (Bloomberg)

Richline Group Inc., owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., reached a deal to make and distribute jewelry featuring the artwork from cards produced by American Greetings Corp. [...] Richline also has relationships with the Marie Claire brand and the National Football League.

Borsheims to open second location at Nebraska Crossing Outlets (Omaha World-Herald)

For more than a half-century, Borsheims, Omaha's iconic jeweler, has limited itself to a single store. But this fall the Berkshire Hathaway-owned retailer will break tradition and open a second location — an outlet store at Nebraska Crossing Outlets in Gretna. The outlet store, opening Nov. 15 under the banner Borsheims Boutique, will occupy a 5,500-square-foot space next to the Coach factory store.

BNSF to spend $110 million on projects in Nebraska (Omaha World-Herald)

BNSF Railway Co. on Thursday announced plans to invest about $110 million this year in maintenance and rail capacity expansion projects in Nebraska. [...] BNSF also plans to invest $35 million this year in Iowa, which is part of the railroad’s total 2013 capital investment of $4.3 billion, a record for the company. [...] Omaha-based Union Pacific’s 2013 capital investment numbers aren’t yet available, but last year the company spent about $303 million in Nebraska and $3.7 billion total on its network.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Signs Nine More Affiliates (Fort Mill Times)

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, the new real estate brokerage network operated by HSF Affiliates LLC, today announced the signing of nine more brokerage companies for the network. The companies include: Prudential Anderson Properties, Houston, TX; Prudential California Realty, Cerritos, CA; Prudential Canyon Lake Realty, Canyon Lake, CA; Prudential Gallo, REALTORS®, Rehoboth Beach, DE; Prudential Serls Prime Properties, Lagrangeville, NY; Prudential Southeast Coastal Properties, Savannah, GA; Prudential Texas Realty, Austin, TX; Prudential Tropical Realty, Tampa Bay, FL; and Prudential Woodmont Realty, Nashville, TN. The brokerages will begin operating under the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices flag as early as the fourth quarter of 2013. They are the latest in a series of brokerage signees announced by the new real estate network, whose total members now represent more than $1 billion in annual gross commission income.

Berkshire News Briefs - 6/30/13

Berkshire's Oriental Trading Co. acquires toy company (Omaha World-Herald)

Omaha's Oriental Trading Co. said Thursday it had acquired a “brainy” toy company, taking another step in expanding Warren Buffett’s presence in the business of selling goods to consumers through catalogs and online. The subsidiary of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said Thursday it has purchased MindWare Holdings Inc. of suburban Minneapolis for an undisclosed amount of cash, its first acquisition under Berkshire ownership. MindWare creates, wholesales and sells more than 1,000 educational games, toys and other products via catalogs and online sites. [...]

“Our expectation is that this is the first of many acquisitions to come down the road,” Taylor said.“It gives us a chance to leverage our world-class, high-tech platform that we've built to sell products direct to consumers and to organizations.” MindWare owner Martin Smith, who is retiring, said he wanted the company to have a permanent home.

Buffett had helping hand in Oriental Trading acquisition (Omaha World-Herald)

Last year, when Taylor approached Berkshire Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett about buying Oriental Trading, he asked how involved Buffett would be in the business. Buffett answered that his philosophy is autonomy for top managers but that he should be informed about acquisitions. So Taylor brought the MindWare proposal to Buffett. “I knew we'd have to run this by Warren and get his blessing,” Taylor said, “mostly to make sure not to overpay for acquisitions. He was very helpful in helping us size it, to come up with our value we were going to offer.”

Buffett Adds $1.75 Billion in Hartford Annuity Deal (Bloomberg)

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.agreed to take on Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.’s U.K. variable-annuity business, adding $1.75 billion in assets under management. Berkshire will pay $285 million in cash for Hartford Life International Ltd., which sold the annuities from 2005 to 2009, according to a statement today from Hartford, which is based in the Connecticut city of the same name. The deal will cut second-quarter earnings by about $110 million, Hartford said. [...]

The $285 million price is about the same as the unit’s statutory surplus, a measure of assets minus liabilities, as calculated under Irish accounting standards, Hartford said. The Hartford Life Ltd. unit is based in Dublin.

Most Respected (Forbes) http://online.barrons.com/article/barrons_cover.html#article...

Apple's reign is over. Its remarkable three-year hold on the throne of Barron's annual ranking of the world's most respected companies is history. [...] And proving that comebacks are possible even for an 82-year-old CEO, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway came out on top this year, up from a No. 15 finish in 2012 -- the only time in this ranking's nine-year history that it finished out of the top five.

Berkshire, White Mountains Get Symetra Stock in Warrant Deal (Bloomberg)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s General Re and a unit of White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd. will each get about $40 million of stock in life insurer Symetra Financial Corp. in a deal to retire warrants granted in 2004. [...] Berkshire and White Mountains led an investor group in 2004 that purchased Safeco Corp.’s life-insurance business, which was renamed Symetra after the deal was completed. They remain the company’s largest investors [...]

Mars Said Seeking to Pay Back 11.45% Notes Held by Berkshire (Bloomberg)

Mars Inc. is seeking financing to pay off the balance of $4.4 billion of bonds provided by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in 2008 to acquire Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., two people with knowledge of the matter said. [...] Berkshire backed Mars’s $23 billion purchase in October 2008 with the debt financing and an agreement to take a $2.1 billion stake in the Wrigley division once the deal closed. Berkshire would still be left with its equity stake in Wrigley and the preferred shares can’t be sold for another year, one of the people said.

State approves tax breaks to Athenahealth and Buffett company (Boston-dot-com)

The state approved $11.9 million in economic development tax credits Wednesday to 10 companies that promised to create new jobs and invest in local communities, including Athenahealth Inc. and Richline Group Inc., a subsidiary of billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. [...] The council also agreed to award Richline, a jewelry manufacturing company, $400,000 in tax credits to support its growth in Attleboro. Richline, which recently bought a plant in Attleboro, plans to invest $3.6 million in new manufacturing equipment and interior building improvements, along with adding 100 new jobs.

Call a spade a spade (Hindu Business Line)

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway had recently indicated that it is winding up its online insurance operation in India that was started in 2011. The bad news is that the experiment probably didn’t produce the desired results, but the good news is that the company took the bold decision to pull the plug and move on — at least for now. Obviously, the decision need not imply that the company would not try again. It might try, probably at a later time, using a different entry strategy or business model.

Dairy Queen installs treadmills for employees (Yahoo)

Dairy Queen, best known for candy-infused ice cream Blizzards, has installed a bank of treadmill workstations at its Edina, Minn., corporate headquarters as part of a wellness program aimed to combat "sitting disease," the not-so-technical term for ailments associated with sitting at a computer all day. [...] According to Megan Weizel, manager of the wellness program, the company also is adding showers and locker rooms "so people can freshen up if they exercise on their lunch hour or bike into work"—in part to entice potential new employees. "We're looking at not just these, but our whole wellness program as a recruitment tool," she said.

Take This Online Philanthropy Course And You’ll Get To Give Away The Buffett Family’s Money (Fast Company)

Warren Buffett’s family has a lot of money, and they want your help giving it away. The only catch: you have to participate in the Learning By Giving Foundation’s massive open online course (MOOC). Only then will you have the power to decide where (a tiny piece of) the Berkshire Hathaway fortune should go.

Berkshire News Briefs - 6/8/13

$28 billion sale of Heinz to Berkshire Hathaway, 3G Capital closes (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

The H.J. Heinz Co. says the $28 billion sale of the historic Pittsburgh ketchup maker has closed. Bernardo Hees, formerly the head of Burger King Worldwide, has become the new CEO of Heinz, effective immediately, and begun making management changes, the company said. [...] He has named Paulo Basilio to serve as chief financial officer, replacing longtime CFO Art Winkleblack, also effective immediately. [...] Both Mr. Hees and Mr. Basilio are partners in 3G Capital, which partnered in the acquisition with Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. Mr. Basilio has been CEO of America Latina Logistica from 2010 to September 2012. Mr. Hees previously held that job.

Heinz completes acquisition by Berkshire, 3G; Brazilian firms shifts around CEOs (Washington Post)

With the completion of the deal, 3G is shifting one of its partners from the helm of Burger King to head Heinz. Bernardo Hees, 43, is taking the reins from William Johnson, who was the seventh CEO of the 144-year-old company for the past 15 years. Johnson walks away with a golden parachute of $56 million, in addition to the $156.7 million in vested stock and deferred compensation he accrued over his career. [...] 3G is known for its aggressive cost-cutting at the companies it takes over, suggesting Heinz could be in store for big changes. At Burger King, for example, Hees did away with executive offices at the corporate headquarters in favor of open spaces. He sat at a desk right outside the elevators on the seventh floor, in front of big board that was updated with daily sales reports from around the world.

Berkshire Directors Lowest-Paid of S&P Firms (ABC News)

They attend at least four meetings and work about 300 hours a year, but the people who sit on the boards of S&P 500 companies received an average of $251,000 last year. Financial and technology company Fidelity National Information Services Inc. paid the highest compensation due to a $9.5 million retention bonus, while directors of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway received the lowest, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Berkshire Hathaway directors received $3,800.

Berkshire Hathaway's MidAmerican to hold off on new Iowa nuclear plants (Reuters)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc's MidAmerican Energy Co has decided against building any new nuclear reactors in Iowa in the near future because of regulatory hurdles. [...] Many utilities have put plans for costly new nuclear reactors on hold due to cheap natural gas prices, the much lower cost to build gas-fired generators, and the lack of federal restrictions on carbon emissions. [...] Separately, MidAmerican said its recently announced plan to build additional wind generation would help keep customers' costs down.

Berkshire’s Witmer Buys Shares After Joining Buffett’s Board (Bloomberg)

Meryl Witmer, the newest director at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., acquired more than $1 million in the company’s stock after joining the board this month. Witmer, a general partner at Eagle Capital, added seven Class A shares of Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire today and yesterday for prices from $165,173 to $165,262.65, she said in a regulatory filing.

Berkshire’s Richline to Buy Honora to Expand Sales of Pearls (Bloomberg)

Richline Group Inc., the jewelry manufacturer owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (A), agreed to acquire the Honora brand to expand sales of pearls. The purchase of Honora, which has been family owned and operated for more than 60 years, is expected to be completed in July [...] Richline has been striking deals to expand sales through U.S. retailers. The unit, which has manufacturing facilities in nations including Bolivia, China, India and Israel, announced a licensing agreement in March to market and distribute jewelry in the U.S. and Canada under the Marie Claire brand. Richline said Honora Chief Executive Officer Joel Schechter will remain with the company and run it as a standalone brand.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire eyeing Unipol insurance assets: report (Reuters)

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc is interested in buying assets that Italian insurer Unipol must sell as part of a merger with peer Fondiaria-SAI, business daily Il Sole 24 Ore said on Saturday. The paper said Berkshire was eying commercial assets belonging to Milano Assicurazioni, a unit controlled by Fondiaria. Unipol has been forced by Italy's anti-trust authority to sell portfolio assets with premiums totaling around 1.7 billion euros ($2.2 billion) as part of its rescue of the Fondiaria-SAI group.

Berkshire’s BNSF Violated Water Act, Sierra Club Says (Bloomberg)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s BNSF Railway Co. and five other coal shippers were sued by the Sierra Club over claims they discharge coal into Puget Sound and other waterways in violation of the U.S. Clean Water Act. [...] “Sierra Club’s lawsuit is meritless and nothing more than a publicity stunt meant to stop the permitting of multicommodity export terminals in the Pacific Northwest,” Suann Lundsberg, a BNSF spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. “BNSF has safely hauled coal in Washington for decades and is committed to preventing coal dust from escaping while in transit.” The groups seek a court order prohibiting the company from using uncovered rail cars to carry coal and asked that it pay civil penalties and remediation costs and other damages.

Warren Buffet's Charity Lunch Date Sells at a Bargain Price (Daily Finance)

The annual charity auction of a private lunch with billionaire investor Warren Buffett went for just more than $1 million Friday night - a bargain price compared to past years [...] An anonymous donor had the high bid of $1,000,100 when the bidding ended Friday night on eBay. The private audience with investor drew bids of more than $2 million in each of the past five years, including last year's record-setting winning bid of $3,456,789. All proceeds go to the Glide Foundation, which helps the poor and homeless in San Francisco. The nonprofit relies on the auction to provide a significant chunk of its $17 million annual budget.

Bono Sings to Warren Buffett (CNBC)

Warren Buffett was given the inaugural Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Philanthropy, but got more than just that honor.

As Randall Lane tells us on Forbes.com, on Wednesday night in New York Buffett got a song from U2's Bono, also a prominent philanthropist, who sang his own Buffettized version of "Home on the Range."