Warren Buffett is highly respected in the investment world for good reason: He has increased the value of his company, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A +0.16%) (BRK.B 0.04%), by an annual average of nearly 20% over close to 60 years. If that doesn't wow you, know that if you started with just $100 and it grew by 20% annually for 60 years, you'd end up with $5.6 million! (See? Impressive!)
Here are a bunch of interesting things about Buffett's company. See how many you didn't know, and then consider whether you might want to invest in Berkshire Hathaway.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
1. Berkshire Hathaway is a massive company
The average American has probably not heard of Berkshire Hathaway, but it has grown to place fifth in the Fortune 500 list of big American companies, with its recent market value of $1.1 trillion. As of the end of 2024, Berkshire employed about 392,400 people across its many businesses -- but only 27 people at its corporate headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska.
2. Berkshire owns scores of companies outright
Many people don't really know exactly what business Berkshire Hathaway is in. Well, know that it often focuses on insurance, energy, and transportation. It also encompasses many businesses owned outright, such as GEICO, Benjamin Moore, Brooks, Duracell, Forest River, Fruit of the Loom, International Dairy Queen, Justin Brands, McLane, Pampered Chef, Pilot Travel Centers, See's Candies, and the entire BNSF railroad -- among dozens of others.
3. Berkshire owns stock in many companies, too
Not only does Berkshire Hathaway own lots of entire businesses, it's also invested in dozens more, by owning shares of stock. For example, it recently owned 2% of Apple (a position worth $75 billion!), 35.4% of Sirius XM, 28.2% of Occidental Petroleum, 21.6% of American Express, 9.3% of Coca-Cola, 8.9% of Bank of America, 6.9% of Kroger, and 6.7% of Chevron.
4. Berkshire will likely keep growing
Berkshire Hathaway's reports reveal that the company is sitting on a lot of cash. A lot. Recently, the total was $334 billion -- about a third of a trillion dollars. We can expect that when an attractive opportunity comes along, Buffett (and/or his investing lieutenants) will pounce on it. That may include buying more companies in their entirety or loading up on stocks. If we do enter a recession, with many companies struggling and many good stocks having slumped, there will be opportunities aplenty.
NYSE: BRK.B
Key Data Points
5. Berkshire's annual meetings are huge
A typical company's annual meeting might have a few dozen, or at most, a few hundred attendees. It might last for an hour or two, with management presenting results and answering a few questions. Berkshire's annual meeting draws tens of thousands of attendees, and it has, until recently, lasted for most of a day, with Buffett and other executives answering scores of questions for five hours or more. (Buffett's business partner, Charlie Munger, passed away in 2023 and Buffett is now 94 years old, so the meeting has recently been shortened a bit.)
6. Berkshire Hathaway's amazing growth enabled Buffett to be an amazing philanthropist
Warren Buffett owns the lion's share of Berkshire Hathaway, and if he'd never sold any shares and given money away, it's estimated that his worth would be more than $350 billion, enough to rank him as the richest or second-richest person in the world. But he's a generous guy, and over the years, he has donated more than half his shares. According to Forbes, "Buffett is likely the largest philanthropist of all time... donating more than $60 billion toward charitable causes in his lifetime."
7. Many smaller parts of Berkshire Hathaway are quite big
Check out these eye-opening nuggets of information from Berkshire:
- "... 52% of our owned and contracted generating capacity [comes] from renewable and noncarbon sources such as wind, water, solar and geothermal."
- "... [W]e are No. 1 in the nation in ownership of wind-powered electric generation among rate-regulated utilities."
- "Topaz Solar Farms is a 550-megawatt solar power plant in San Luis Obispo County, California. With more than eight million modules installed across 4,700 acres, the project is considered one of the world's largest solar farms."
- BNSF Railway encompasses 32,500 route miles in 28 states. "BNSF moves enough grain each year to supply 740 million people with a year's supply of bread."
- "Berkshire Hathaway's National Indemnity group of insurance companies hold financial strength ratings of A++ from AM Best and AA+ from Standard & Poor's..."
Should you invest in Berkshire Hathaway?
I'm a shareholder, myself, and I think owning shares of this built-to-last company is a good thing. When you own shares, your dollars are invested in a diversified group of businesses, ranging from homebuilding to candy to executive jets to frying pans to recreational vehicles, paint, and jewelry.
Berkshire has grown huge in large part due to Buffett's core values of rationality and integrity. It's true that he's now in his 90s and likely won't be at the helm of the company a decade from now, but he has the company's affairs in order, with an heir apparent in Greg Abel. Buffett himself has noted many times that the company isn't likely to grow as fast going forward as it did in the past, due to its size, but it's still likely to keep rewarding shareholders for decades.
That said, the stock isn't exactly cheap at recent levels. So the best approach, if you want to be a shareholder, might be to add it to your watch list and wait for a better price -- or perhaps buy into it in installments over time.
