Berkshire Hathaway News

Europe’s Re/Insurers Cut Coal Investments by $20B; U.S. Firms Fail to Act: Report

Insurers have pulled $20 billion out of coal investments, but most are European and none of the top nine U.S. insurers has taken “meaningful action,” campaign group Unfriend Coal said on Wednesday. Government representatives and officials at this week’s U.N. …

Berkshire Likely to Report Big Q3 Claims Costs – and Reduced Insurance ‘Float’

The insurance business has been good to Warren Buffett. For decades, his stable of carriers at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. have provided him billions of dollars to invest. They’ve also turned an underwriting profit every year since 2002. That streak could …

Buffett’s Berkshire to Buy 9% Stake in Italian Insurer Cattolica

Warren Buffett is expanding his wager on Italy. The billionaire’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said Thursday it agreed to buy about 9 percent of Italian insurer Societa Cattolica di Assicurazioni Scrl from Banca Popolare di Vicenza SpA, one of two failed …

Berkshire Hathaway’s Gen Re Plans to Expand in Indian Market

General Re, a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. which won a license to open an Indian office in May, is seeking a larger slice of the world’s fastest-growing reinsurance market. The unit plans to expand in health and …

Yahoo to Pay $5.5M After Breaking NCAA Tournament Bracket Deal

Yahoo Inc owes a prize promoter $5.5 million for backing out of a contract to pay $1 billion for predicting every winner in the 2014 NCAA men’s basketball tournament, and entering a similar contract with Quicken Loans Inc and Warren …

Reinsurers Invest in Fintech Startups to Diversify and Grow in Soft Market

When Micah Carr-Hill wanted to insure Chief, the Labrador that helps with his son’s autism therapy, he found an ally in Munich Re, the world’s biggest reinsurer. The German company had just teamed up with a U.K. internet startup to …

Berkshire Hathaway Eyes Buying Stake in IRB Brasil Resseguros: Sources

Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the firm run by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, is in talks to buy a stake in Latin America’s biggest reinsurer, IRB Brasil Resseguros SA, after an initial public offering of stock, according to two people with direct …

Settlement Deal Between California Commissioner and Applied Underwriters

California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones announced today that the California Department of Insurance has reached a settlement agreement with Berkshire Hathaway subsidiaries to stop what he calls “bait and switch marketing tactics” used to sell a workers’ compensation insurance products. …

Insurers Increasingly Embrace Robots over Humans for Customer Service

Frustrated with automated answering machines before you finally get to speak with a customer service representative? When it comes to insurance, you’ll just as likely end up dealing with a robot as a human within three years, according to a …

CEOs of California Sewing Firms Sentenced for Workers’ Comp Fraud

Sisters who are CEOs of sewing companies that are subcontracted by True Religion jeans have been sentenced for conspiring with their accountant to hide tens of millions in payroll to avoid paying for workers’ compensation insurance. Sung Hyun Kim and …