Berkshire Hathaway. Everything you need to know 

Berkshire Hathaway Overview 

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is a North American international and global conglomerate holding corporation with its head office mounted on the coast of Omaha, in the state of Nebraska, United States. Owned and managed by the nonagenarian and investing giant and legend, Warren Edward Buffet, the global conglomerate is by far one of the largest corporations across the globe. Berkshire Hathaway Inc., in its entirety wholly owns several top companies all around the world, including, BNSF Railway, Duracell, GEICO, Helzberg Diamonds, Lubrizol, Fruit of the Loom, Pampered Chef, FlightSafety International, Forest River, Net Jet as well as Diary Queen.

Additionally, the corporation also owns equities (although, minor) with several top public firms across the world, the likes of the Coca-Cola Company with 9.3% shares, Kraft Heinz Company with a share of 26.7%, Bank of America, with 11.9% shares, Apple Inc., with a 5.57% equity, as well as American Express with 18.8% equity. In addition to this, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. also owns equity with Exxon Mobil amounting to an approximation of 4 Billion USD.

The corporation although has been in existence since 1839, approximately 183 years, nonetheless, has continued to take the world aback with its ever-outstretching expansion. Currently, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is ranked #1 on the Forbes Global 2000 list, taking down JP Morgan as the largest company in America, as well as the world at large. The company is ranked #1 on the Forbes Global 2000 list based on four basic metrics: profit, assets, market value, and sales. In this article, however, you will be shown a more detailed, comprehensive, and extensive review of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. 

The kickoff will begin with the company’s key facts and it will flow to all aspects of its operations, and dealings. As such, all relevant information detailing its key facts, historical background, its divisions, its financial overview, as well as its pros and cons will be concisely covered to enable you to understand the significant and major elements of the global conglomerate corporation as quickly as possible.      

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Key Facts 

Founding Year: Berkshire Hathaway Inc. was founded in the year1839.    

Industrial Ranking: Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is proud to be ranked #1 on the Forbes Global 2000 list, taking down JP Morgan as the largest company in America, as well as the world at large. Additionally, the corporation also ranks #7 on Fortune 500, indicating the company as one of the largest corporations with higher revenue in the United States.     

Company Type: A Public Corporation Company (PLC)    

Market Reach:  Berkshire Hathaway Inc operates globally, and has its offices mounted strategically in several countries across the world.   

Industry Type: Conglomerate  

Trading Type:  Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) market in two classes under the ticker symbols BRK.A (Class A) and BRK.B (Class B). The corporation’s Class B stock (BRK.B) is a component of the S&P 100 and S&P 500 respectively.  

Workforce Strength:  Berkshire Hathaway Inc has a total number of 327, 000 employees in its workforce globally as of the 2021 report.    

Divisions:  BNSF Railway, Duracell, GEICO, Helzberg Diamonds, Lubrizol, Fruit of the Loom, Pampered Chef, FlightSafety International, Forest River, Net Jet as well as Diary Queen. 

Official Website link: www.berkshirehathaway.com 

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Historical Snapshot 

Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s history could be traced back to 1839 the year the corporation was founded, beginning its operation in the textile manufacturing industry. The company was originally established by Oliver Chace and was by then operating under the name, Valley Falls Company. The founder, Oliver Chace was reportedly the founder of the first textile factory that was successful in the United States in 1806.  

In the year 1929, the company was merged with the Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company which was founded in the year 1889 on the coast of Adams, Massachusetts. The merger technically had a substantial effect on the two companies, conjoining to form a single name recognized as Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates. 

In the year 1955, the company was merged again with a manufacturing company, operating under the name, Hathaway Manufacturing Company established by Horatio Hathaway in the year 1888 on the coast of New Bedford, Massachusetts.  

In the year 1962, the nonagenarian and investing giant, Warren Buffet started purchasing shares in Berkshire Hathaway after observing the trend of the company’s stocks each time it shuts down a mill. However, as the years goes by, Warren observed the incessant slope in the company’s finances and decided to put off his owned share for sale. However, after witnessing a drastic reduction offer from an investor named Stanton, Warren changed his decision to sell his stock, and instead, he purchased more of the failing company’s shares making him a major share owner of the company’s equity. 

Throughout the 1970s  and 1980s, Warren Buffet changed the scope of the company’s operation by extending to several industries and acquiring new companies itself. A major industry the company stepped into during this period was the insurance industry, and that expansion led to its acquisition of National Indemnity Company, as well as its equity purchase in the GEICO (Government Employee Insurance Company). GEICO remains the corporation’s major source of income and its core insurance business hitherto. 

In the year 2010, Warren Buffet lamented that his decision to purchase Berkshire Hathaway was one of his biggest investment mistakes as the purchase denied him of a compounding ROI amounting to the sum of $200 Billion USD since his purchase of the company hitherto. The investment legend further disclosed that on the off chance that he had invested the money he used in purchasing Berkshire Hathaway in the insurance business, the ROI would have yielded multiple folds than what he had gotten from the company. 

Business Segments and Niche Markets 

It is quite obvious to say Berkshire Hathaway Inc is a global conglomerate that has its hands in multiple pies, in other words, the corporation operates in diverse multiple market niches. In this section, you would be shown an overview of the company’s business segments, and the niche markets it’s currently operating. 

Berkshire Hathaway Inc business segments and niche markets include: 

• Insurance Market 
• Energy and Utilities   
• Manufacturing 
• Flight Services 
• Building Products 
• Retail 
• Media 
• Real Estate 
• Other non-insurance 
• Investments 
• Banking and Financial services 

Berkshire Hathaway Inc Key Financials 

The below lines enumerate the company’s key financial snapshot as released by Forbes 

Revenue: $276.1 Billion USD (Forbes 2022) 

Net Income (Profit): $89.8 Billion USD ( Forbes 2022) 

Total Assets: $958.8 Billion USD   (Forbes 2022) 

Total Equity: $514.9 Billion USD  (Forbes 2022) 

Operating Income: 276.1 Billion USD  (Forbes 2022) 

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Product and Service Offerings 

This section outline the list of products and services offered by the corporation across all its business segments and niche markets. 

These products and services include but are not limited to: 

• Food Processing  
• Aerospace 
• Toys 
• Consumer goods 
• Internet 
• Real estate – homes 
• Sporting goods 
• Diversified Investment 
• Utilities 
• Automobiles 
• Restaurants 
• Insurance for properties and casualties 

Employee Review 

This section will enlist the pros and cons of Berkshire Hathaway’s company according to employees’ reviews on Glassdoor as well as a deep study of the company.  

Pros 

Seasoned and Highly Experienced Staff: Berkshire Hathaway Inc. reportedly has a team of professionals across all its business segments who are part of its workforce, and are committed to giving their most industrial skill set. 

A Customer-centric Firm:  One of the major pros of Berkshire Hathaway  Inc., to its customer is that it is a 100% customer-focused company, as such, all its operations are geared towards making the customers happy.  

Ranked for Quality: Rated by Forbes as America’s Largest Company on its Global 2000 list; Ranked #7 on the 2022 Fortune 500 list. 

Dedicated and Committed to Sustainable Development: Berkshire Hathaway  Inc.,  is committed to giving its best in terms of delivering its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as it fosters and supports both social and environmental-oriented programs.   

Offers Benefits and Perks for Customers: Berkshire Hathaway  Inc. offers and avails its customers of several benefits and perks across all its business segments. 

Cons  

Poor management 

Relatively low payment 

No extensive staff training 

No Work/Life Balance  

Relatively high costs of products and services

Conclusion 

In a nutshell, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is no doubt an amusing and intriguing case to study as a result of its long-shot years in the industry, its cutting-edge and innovative milestones as well as its commitment to expansion. As seen in the above-detailed history that the company leverages its industrial insights and expertise to attain such a great feat and it’s still dedicated to doing the same in years to come. Finally, I hope your expectation highlighted in the introductory portion of this paper have been addressed. However, on the off chance that you are yet to completely absorb all that is drafted in this piece at once, I recommend that you review it over and over again until you are in sync with the entire information.