Equity Investments at Berkshire Hathaway

Abstract

As Berkshire Hathaway had reported in its 2018, first quarter, 10-Q, it was “engage[d] in a number of diverse business activities.” Maria knew that Berkshire Hathaway bought the stock of numerous other companies. She assumed that the company's holdings in the common stock of other companies represented various ownership percentages, and she wanted to explore that possibility more extensively.

Excerpt

UVA-C-2416

Rev. Jan. 11, 2019

Equity Investments at Berkshire Hathaway

Maria's head hurt…again! She was trying to make sense of some of the Berkshire Hathaway Company's (Berkshire Hathaway) investment-related disclosures. She wanted to take a look at the Oracle of Omaha's (i.e., Warren Buffet's) investment-related disclosures in Berkshire Hathaway's 2018, first quarter, 10-Q report filed with the US Securities & Exchange Commission (see Exhibit 1 for pertinent parts). This report was the first one filed using the FASB's new rules pertaining to financial instruments (ASU 2016-01). Maria was curious as to how Berkshire Hathaway's financial picture might have been affected.

Berkshire Hathaway Overview

As Berkshire Hathaway had reported in its 2018, first quarter, 10-Q, it was “engage[d] in a number of diverse business activities” (see Exhibit 2). Those activities included insurance (GEICO), railroad (BNSF Railway), civil aviation (NetJets), consumer products (the Kraft Heinz Company (Kraft Heinz) and Fruit of the Loom), utilities (PacifiCorp.), manufacturing (Lubrizol), building products (Shaw Products, Johns Manville, and Benjamin Moore), and a host of others.

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Keywords: business activities, company stock, company reporting