Hints and tips:
...Buffett’s sprawling conglomerate, which owns the BNSF railroad and Geico insurer, first invested in the iPhone maker in 2016 at the direction of one of his two investment deputies: Todd Combs and Ted Weschler...
...The gains were fuelled by strong results from Berkshire’s insurance unit, including at Geico, as well as higher interest rates....
...The acquisition by Berkshire, whose related interests include car insurer Geico and dealership Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, was regarded as a vote of confidence in the US economy and more particularly...
...The company’s Geico auto-insurer, which had struggled to cope with payouts on claims for much of the past two years, showed improvement....
...There were, he said, few deals that offered the kind of transformative impact past takeovers have had, such as its purchases of insurers Geico and National Indemnity or the BNSF railroad....
...But investors said they would be closely scrutinising Buffett’s annual letter next February for any indications that change is afoot at the conglomerate, which counts insurer Geico and the BNSF railroad...
...The sprawling conglomerate is now worth more than $780bn, with stakes in Apple, Coca-Cola and Bank of America as well as ownership of the BNSF railroad and Geico insurer....
...Geico reported a second consecutive quarter of underwriting profits, following more than a year of losses....
...Investors were buoyed by the fact that Geico, the company’s auto insurance unit, posted a second consecutive quarterly profit after more than a year of losses....
...But this year, Abel — heir apparent to lead the $710bn conglomerate that includes the BNSF railroad, private jet operator NetJets and insurer Geico, as well as the other public and private groups Berkshire...
...“As a result, we currently expect Geico to generate an underwriting profit in 2023,” Berkshire said....
...One of Berkshire’s crown jewels, the Geico auto insurer, swung to an underwriting profit after six consecutive quarters of losses....
...It is also the latest shift by the conglomerate, which spans the Geico insurer, BNSF railroad and Dairy Queen ice cream purveyor, into blue-chip technology companies....
...Berkshire’s insurance unit suffered an operating loss of $962mn during the quarter, with Geico warning that higher used auto parts prices and an increase in accidents were weighing on its results....
...The moves amount to the biggest sign yet of investor disquiet over governance at Buffett’s sprawling conglomerate, whose holdings include the insurer Geico, the BNSF railroad and electric utilities across...
...Insurance unit Geico recorded a $487mn pre-tax underwriting loss in the quarter, up from the three months before....
...Profits at its insurance businesses — which includes Geico — were nearly wiped out, falling to just $47mn from $764mn a year earlier....
...In his most recent letter to shareholders, Buffett again extolled the virtues of insurance “float” or the premiums that policyholders pay to Berkshire insurance companies such as Geico....
...Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed late on Wednesday that it had purchased a stake in computer and printer maker HP Inc worth $4.2bn, the latest sign that the sprawling conglomerate and its billionaire...
...Among the insurance companies in Berkshire’s portfolio are Geico, one of the largest car insurers in the US, and reinsurer Gen Re, which provides cover to primary insurers across life, health, property and...
...That has played directly to Berkshire, which has an empire ranging from the BNSF railroad, to insurer Geico and metalworking subsidiary Iscar, as well as a $351bn stock portfolio, with multibillion-dollar...
...Berkshire’s many operating companies, which include ice cream purveyor Dairy Queen, the Geico insurer, and private jets operator NetJets, nonetheless had a banner year....
...Geico, the insurer that is among Berkshire’s crown jewels, was among the few weak points....
...Its core operating businesses, which include the insurer Geico, BNSF railroad and the Dairy Queen ice cream chain, also improved....
...Berkshire Hathaway, which owns Geico, the insurer, railroad BNSF and Benjamin Moore, the paint maker, reported robust $11.7bn in profits earlier in the day, with some divisions disclosing price rises to...
International Edition