Warren Buffett News

In His Own Words: Q&A with Applied Underwriters’ Menzies on Buffet, California and ‘Pumping Entrepreneurial Power’

Steve Menzies, founder and chairman of Applied Underwriters Inc., is a busy man. Since he reacquired his company from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway in 2019, he has been buying businesses, creating new subsidiaries, welcoming new teams of professionals and growing …

Berkshire Hathaway Opposes Climate Change, Diversity Reporting Proposals

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. on Monday urged the rejection of shareholder proposals that annual reports be produced about its efforts to address climate change and promote diversity and inclusion. The proposals were disclosed in Berkshire’s annual proxy filing, ahead …

GEICO Drives Up Berkshire 2020 Underwriting Profit

With GEICO’s 2020 underwriting profit more than doubling above the level recorded in 2019, Berkshire Hathaway’s full-year property/casualty underwriting income was in the black, even though the conglomerate’s P/C reinsurance units saw underwriting losses in both years. Taken together, $3.4 …

Berkshire Hathaway Discloses $499M Investment in Marsh & McLennan

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. on Tuesday announced two major new investments, revealing an $8.6 billion stake in the phone company Verizon Communications Inc. and a $4.1 billion stake in oil company Chevron Corp. The investments were disclosed in a …

Buffett’s Duracell Countersues Energizer, Alleging False Ads Over Battery Life Claims

Duracell, the battery unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., sued the maker of Energizer batteries on Tuesday, accusing it falsely advertising that its Energizer MAX batteries last up to 50% longer than other alkaline batteries. The lawsuit follows Energizer …

Buffett Says Berkshire Would Write Pandemic Insurance. That Is, If the Price Is Right.

The chairman of Berkshire Hathaway said that while his insurance units aren’t heavily exposed to underwriting losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, they would be willing to insure pandemics in the future. “The answer is we insure a lot of things. …

Berkshire Discloses Q1 Insurance Results; Buffett Talks Coronavirus Impact

Berkshire Hathaway’s property/casualty insurance and reinsurance businesses reported a first quarter underwriting profit of $747 million before taxes, nearly double the pretax underwriting profit of $377 million recorded for first-quarter 2019. Property/casualty and life insurance and reinsurance businesses combined recorded …

Virtual ‘Woodstock for Capitalists’ May Show How Buffett’s Handling Coronavirus

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s annual meeting will be nothing like the extravaganzas of years past, but will give Warren Buffett a chance to show how resilient his cash-rich conglomerate may be to the coronavirus pandemic, and the investment opportunities it offers. …

Buffett Warns of Corporate Directors Too Beholden to CEO

Warren Buffett on Saturday called on corporate America to make their boards of directors more accountable to shareholders and less beholden to chief executive officers, perhaps by reducing their pay and requiring that they buy more stock. In his annual …

Buffett Says Combs Likely to Head GEICO Only Temporarily

Warren Buffett doesn’t expect Todd Combs, one of his two key investing deputies, to be at auto insurer Geico long. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. tapped Combs in December to become chief executive officer of its Geico unit. He replaced Bill …