Berkshire Hathaway
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Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA, NYSE: BRKB) is a large holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, located at 1440 Kiewit Plaza, that oversees and manages a number of subsidiary companies. Berkshire Hathaway's core business is insurance, including property and casualty insurance, reinsurance and specialty nonstandard insurance. The Company averaged a phenomenal 25%+ annual return to its shareholders for the last 25 years while employing large amounts of capital and minimal debt.
The company is controlled by Warren Buffett, who is one of the most celebrated investors in history and the second-richest man in the world according to Forbes magazine. Buffett has used the "float" provided by Berkshire Hathaway's insurance operations (a policyholder's money which it holds temporarily until claims are paid out) to finance his investments. In the early part of his career at Berkshire, he focused on long-term investments in publicly quoted stocks, but more recently has turned to buying whole companies. Berkshire now owns a diverse range of businesses including candy production and sales at retail, newspaper publishing, retailing of home furnishings, sales of encyclopedias, sales of vacuum cleaners, manufacture and distribution of uniforms, retail jewelry, and manufacture, import and distribution of footwear. Some of the company's well-known subsidiaries include Borsheim's Fine Jewelry, GEICO Auto Insurance, Nebraska Furniture Mart, and The Pampered Chef.
Berkshire Hathaway holds an annual shareholders meeting at the Qwest Center in Omaha. The meetings have become a cultural event, with attendance often over 20,000 people.
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