In Compton, a small village, roughly 10 miles from Newbury, a chemical manufacturing company called Carbosynth was founded, in 2006. Before moving to their £129 million headquarters in the outskirts of the town in 2002, Vodafone used 64 buildings spread across the town centre. Manufacturing ceased in 2018 with operations moving elsewhere, however the UK headquarters is still based there. The town is home to the National Foundation for Educational Research, which is housed in The Mere. The global headquarters of Reckitt Benckiser and the UK headquarters of Mars, Incorporated are based in Slough.
By 2017, this position had yielded a profit of about $12 billion excluding the annual interest earned from the preferred stock. The shares yielded 6%, earning Berkshire $300 million in annual interest. On August 26, 2011, Berkshire Hathaway bought $5 billion of preferred shares in Bank of America.
Ice hockey
- In the first quarter of 2022, Berkshire acquired a $2.6 billion stake in Paramount Global.
- In February 2010, the remaining portion that it did not already own was acquired for $26 billion.
- Berkshire Hathaway reduced its Apple stake by nearly 50%, selling $75.5 billion worth of stock in the second quarter of 2024, increasing its cash reserves to a record $276.9 billion.
- That year, ConocoPhillips completed the corporate spin-off of Phillips 66, of which Berkshire owned 27 million shares.
- Abel’s official title is CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy and vice chair in charge of noninsurance operations.
As of 2025, Berkshire Hathaway had a market capitalization of over $1.05 trillion, making it one of the largest publicly traded companies worldwide. Its class A shares (BRK.A) are among the most expensive in the stock market and trade at over $700,000 dollars per share. The company owns a variety of well-known businesses, such as GEICO and Fruit of the Loom, and has significant minority interests in public companies such as Apple.
Goldman had the right to re-purchase the preferred stock at a 10% premium, and in March 2011 exercised this right paying $5.5 billion to Berkshire. Berkshire also received warrants to buy 43.5 million shares with at $115 per share, which were exercisable at any time for a five-year term. The preferred stock yielded an annual interest rate of 10%, earning Berkshire $500 million in interest income per year.
In 2013, the company bought the Tulsa World, the Greensboro, North Carolina-based News & Record, Virginia’s Roanoke Times, and Press of Atlantic City. Berkshire formed BH Media Group with a purchase of the Omaha World-Herald in December 2011, which included six other daily newspapers and several weeklies across Nebraska and southwest Iowa. Instead of selling at the slightly lower price, Buffett bought more berkshire hathaway letters to shareholders of the stock at an even higher price to take control of the company and fire Stanton; Stanton and his son resigned in 1965.
Financials
- Berkshire sold most of its shares but held 472,000 shares until 2012.
- In 1964, Buffett offered to sell his shares back to the company for $11.50 each.
- Manufacturing ceased in 2018 with operations moving elsewhere, however the UK headquarters is still based there.
- Berkshire paid for the acquisition with Class A shares valued at $58,400 each; Buffett later said he overpaid, despite strong performance by General Re.
Berkshire sold its remaining bonds and preferred stock to Mars in 2016. Some shares were sold in 2023 and 2024, with Buffett motivated by the China–United States trade war. Berkshire later sold $1.4 billion worth of shares to Phillips 66 in exchange for Phillips Specialty Products.
Annual letters and shareholders’ meetings
In September 2008, at the peak of the 2008 financial crisis, Berkshire invested $5 billion in preferred stock in Goldman Sachs to provide it with a source of funding when capital markets had become constrained. That year, ConocoPhillips completed the corporate spin-off of Phillips 66, of which Berkshire owned 27 million shares. In early 2008, Berkshire increased its stake in ConocoPhillips to 85 million shares. Berkshire made its first investment in Tesco in 2006, and in 2012 it raised this stake to over 5% of the company, investing a total of $2.3 billion.
Analyzing Berkshire Hathaway’s Investment Approach
The Berkshire Downs, a chalk downland and area of outstanding natural beauty, occupy the west of the county. The historic county included the parts of Oxfordshire south of the River Thames, which formed its northern border, but excluded Caversham and Slough. Despite investments in renewable energy, the company was criticized for its decision to operate these plants until at least 2049, raising public health and environmental concerns.
Notable people
Newbury’s rugby union club, Newbury R.F.C. (the Newbury ‘Blues’), is based in the town. Biosynth Carbosynth, along with its acquired companies, vivitide and Pepscan rebranded to Biosynth in 2022. Newbury is home to the world headquarters of the mobile network operator Vodafone, which is the town’s largest employer with over 6,000 people. The European head offices of major IT companies BlackBerry, CA Technologies, are in the town.
In February 2016, Berkshire Hathaway acquired Duracell from Procter & Gamble for $4.7 billion in stock in P&G previously owned by Berkshire Hathaway. In 2012, Berkshire acquired Oriental Trading Company, a direct marketing company for novelty items, small toys, and party items for around $500 million. Also in December 2007, when stresses that led to the 2008 financial crisis were forming, Berkshire created a government bond insurance company to insure municipal bonds, starting with New York State bonds. In July 2005, Berkshire Hathaway acquired Forest River, the world’s largest seller of recreational vehicles, from Pete Liegl for $800 million.
The heaths and woodland south and east of Bracknell are mostly covered by (Eocene) Bracklesham Group sands and clays, and Quaternary sands, silts and gravels. Two main tributaries skirt past Reading, the Loddon and its sub-tributary the Blackwater draining parts of two counties south, and the Kennet draining part of upland Wiltshire in the west. Reading became the new county town in 1867, taking over from Abingdon, which remained in the county. Software development and high-tech industry dominate the economy in the east, but the west remains an agricultural region.
Acquisitions
The company later acquired Professional Datasolutions and Salado Sales. In October 2002, Berkshire acquired The Pampered Chef, the largest direct seller of kitchen tools in the United States. In January 2001, Berkshire acquired 87% of Dalton, Georgia-based Shaw Industries.
Warren Buffett’s Letters To Shareholders
At the time of purchase, Berkshire’s voting interest was limited to 10% of the company’s shares, but this restriction ended when the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 was repealed in 2005. In October 1997, Berkshire acquired Dairy Queen, based in Edina, Minnesota, for $585 million. In February 1997, Berkshire acquired FlightSafety International (FSI), a pilot training company founded in 1951 by Albert Lee Ueltschi and headquartered at LaGuardia Airport in Flushing, New York. In January 1996, Berkshire acquired full ownership of GEICO, acquiring the 49% of the company that it did not then own for $2.3 billion. In January 1986, Berkshire acquired Fechheimer Brothers, owner of Flying Cross, which manufactures public safety uniforms, and Vertx, a civilian tactical clothing company. In 2014, Graham Holdings Company sold its Miami television station, ABC affiliate WPLG to BH Media in a cash and stock deal.
However, at an annual meeting on May 4, 2024, Buffett stated that he had sold all of his shares in Paramount at a substantial loss, blaming himself for deciding to invest. In the second quarter of 2020, Berkshire added a position of more than 20 million shares in Barrick Gold; the shares were sold in 2021. In June 2017, Berkshire acquired a 38.4% stake in Home Capital Group for $400 million, giving a lifeline to the Toronto-based embattled mortgage lender. In April 2020, Berkshire sold all shares in the airlines due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on commercial air transport. In 2017, Berkshire was the largest shareholder in United Airlines and Delta Air Lines and a top 3 shareholder in Southwest Airlines and American Airlines. While Buffett generally does not invest in tech stocks, he has said that Apple is a consumer products company and that he understands consumer products businesses.
The county’s local radio stations are BBC Radio Berkshire, Heart South and Greatest Hits Radio Berkshire & North Hampshire. London Heathrow Airport, in the neighbouring London Borough of Hillingdon, is a major contributor to the economy of Slough in east Berkshire. Since 2019, it has merged with a Swiss company called Biosynth AG to form a key global organisation within the fine chemical industry and operates under name Biosynth Carbosynth®.