Berkshire News Briefs - 2/19/16

The quarterly 10-K statement, detailing Berkshire Hathaway's investment portfolio holdings, came out this week. An easy-to-read summary of the holdings is available, as always, at Dataroma.

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Discloses Stake in Kinder Morgan (Bloomberg)

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. added an investment in Kinder Morgan Inc. during the fourth quarter, snapping up shares of the pipeline operator as its market value plunged.

Berkshire held 26.5 million shares of the company as of Dec. 31, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday disclosing U.S. stock holdings. The stake was valued at $395.9 million at the end of 2015. [...]

Berkshire Hathaway Buys Kinder Morgan, Sells Chicago Bridge, Reduces AT&T (Nasdaq)

In the third quarter 2015, Buffett held on to most of what he had, buying no new stocks and only increasing some of his existing holdings. Since the start of the 2016, his company of choice has been oil refiner Phillips 66, in which he increased his stake to 14.2%. He did not purchase its shares during the fourth quarter, however. [...]

In the fourth quarter, Berkshire Hathaway bought Kinder Morgan, increased Deere & Co., exited Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. and reduced AT&T. [...]

Yahoo to Live-Stream Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Meeting (Variety)

Yahoo has thrown in the towel on entertainment video content, but it’s still banking on big video events to try to grab eyeballs and boost its business.

The Internet company announced an agreement to host the first live-streaming coverage of billionaire Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting on April 30 in Omaha, Neb. The conglomerate’s event has previously been unavailable to the general public, and Yahoo is treating it as if it were the Super Bowl of modern capitalist culture. [...]

In addition, Yahoo Finance has exclusive rights to offer a VOD replay of the Berkshire Hathaway meeting for 30 days after the event. Yahoo will sell video and display advertising, as well as sponsorship opportunities, for the live stream.

Yahoo will deliver the Berkshire Hathaway meeting in up to 1080p HD format at 60 frames per second, equivalent to Blu-ray disc quality.

Berkshire Hathaway makes $642 million in deal (Omaha World-Herald)

Berkshire Hathaway made nearly $642 million when Symetra Financial was acquired by Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.

Warren Buffett’s company said in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week that it sold all 20 million of its Symetra shares as part of the deal.

See’s Candies blames ‘kosher’ candy error on printing mix-up (Omaha World-Herald)

See’s Candies said a printing error resulted in it selling some Valentine’s Day chocolates as kosher when they weren’t, a problem brought to light by a federal lawsuit filed in California alleging “fraudulent inducement.”

See’s, a part of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. of Omaha since 1972, said that after learning of the lawsuit, it found that shelf cards for some of its candy were mistakenly printed with the symbol of Kosher Supervision of America (KSA), which designates food as kosher.

The company offered refunds and said it apologizes to customers who purchased the boxes. [...]

This indie retailer is thriving thanks to Warren Buffett (Crain's Chicago Business)

In metro Chicago, the J.C. Licht chain, which sells [Benjamin] Moore paint in 31 locations from the West Loop to Northbrook and Hinsdale, is under aggressive new ownership and plans to expand to 50 stores in the next five years.

Elliot Greenberg, a former vice president of sales at Ring's End, a Darien, Conn.-based home improvement chain with about $38 million in paint sales, purchased the Licht stores from Benjamin Moore corporate ownership last year. This week, Greenberg will unveil a 38,000-square-foot paint mixing and distribution facility in Addison. [...]

Today, the Moore brand is on its third CEO since 2012: Mike Searles, a former CEO of Wilson's Leather. Under Searles, Buffett reissued his promise to dealers, and the company decided to sell its corporate stores back to experienced independents. Company executives reached out to Greenberg, who paid an unspecified sum for the Licht chain last year.

Lemonade: World’s First Peer-to-Peer Insurance Platform Receives Backing from Lloyds & Berkshire Hathaway (Crowdfund Insider)

Lemonade, a peer to peer insurance platform that seeks to address the profound shortcomings of the multi-trillion dollar insurance industry now has some prominent names backing the young company. Announced today, Lemonade has now received the support of “top tier” global reinsurance partners including Berkshire Hathaway National Indemnity and Lloyd’s of London. [...]

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.