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What Is Berkshire Hathaway?
Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company for a multitude of businesses, including GEICO and Fruit of the Loom, that is led by Warren Buffett. What is now Berkshire Hathaway started as a textile company and evolved into one of the largest companies in the world by market cap. 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. Its class A shares (BRK.A) are among the most expensive in the stock market and trade at over $700,000 dollars per share. Greg Abel is the heir apparent to Berkshire CEO Warren Buffett who, in his nineties, plans to step down as CEO in 2025.
Key Takeaways
- Berkshire Hathaway, led by Warren Buffett, is one of the world’s largest companies by market capitalization.
- The company owns a diverse range of businesses and has significant investments in public companies like Apple.
- Berkshire Hathaway’s Class A shares are among the most expensive in the stock market, trading over $700,000 in 2025.
- Greg Abel is set to succeed Warren Buffett as CEO, ensuring continuity in leadership.
- Berkshire’s success is largely attributed to Buffett’s value investing strategy, delivering impressive returns over decades.
Analyzing Berkshire Hathaway’s Investment Approach
Warren Buffett became the controlling shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway in the mid-1960s and began a progressive strategy of diverting cash flows from the core business into other investments. As of 2025, Berkshire Hathaway had a market capitalization of over $1.05 trillion, making it one of the largest publicly traded companies worldwide.
Berkshire Hathaway has a long history of operating success and smart investments. Berkshire’s stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange in two classes—A shares and B shares. Class A shares have never split and closed above $734,000 per share on October 10th of 2025 (its Class B shares traded at about $489 on the same date).
Insurance subsidiaries represent a large part of Berkshire Hathaway’s holdings. However, the company also manages hundreds of diverse businesses all over the world. These include Duracell, International Dairy Queen, Pampered Chef, Fruit of the Loom, NetJets, and GEICO, among others. In addition to owning private companies, Berkshire also has a large investment portfolio of stocks in major public companies, such as Apple (AAPL), Bank of America (BAC), and United Parcel Service (UPS). As of Dec. 31, 2022, Berkshire’s public market equity portfolio was valued at more than $346 billion.
Early in his career, Buffett came across the novel idea of using the float from his insurance subsidiaries to invest elsewhere. He focused on selecting stocks that would be held for the long term. Buffett has long eschewed a diversified stock portfolio in favor of trusted investments that would be over-weighted in order to leverage the anticipated return. Over time, Buffett’s investing prowess became so renowned that Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meetings are now a mecca for value investing proponents. They’re also the target of intense media scrutiny.
3,641,613%
The overall return of Berkshire Hathaway’s stock from 1965 to 2021. During this same period, the S&P 500 returned 30,209%. In annualized terms, Berkshire’s stock generated an average yearly return of 20.1% over that period, while the S&P 500’s annualized gain was 10.5%.
Leadership Succession at Berkshire Hathaway
Succession is a key topic for Berkshire. The main concern is whether Buffett’s successor can keep outperforming the market. In his 90s, Buffett announced that he would step down from his role as CEO in 2025.
On May 1, 2021, vice chair of Berkshire Hathaway, Charlie Munger, unofficially announced that Warren Buffett would be succeeded as CEO by Greg Abel when Buffett eventually steps down. Abel’s official title is CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy and vice chair in charge of noninsurance operations.
In 2018, the company put Ajit Jain in charge of all of the insurance operations and made Greg Abel the manager of all other (noninsurance) operations.
Who Is Warren Buffett?
Warren Buffett is a world famous business owner and investor. He’s renowned not only for the jaw-dropping success of Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company of which he’s been in charge since 1964. Buffett is also celebrated for his winning approach to investing, which has created great wealth for many shareholders. His frugal lifestyle, despite being one of the world’s wealthiest individuals, and his easy-going manner have earned him fans across the globe.
What Is Value Investing?
Value investing refers to investing in a security with an intrinsic value that’s greater than its market value. The idea is that the undervalued security’s market value should increase to meet its intrinsic value. Warren Buffett is one example of an investor whose focus on value investing has led to incredible success.
What Is a Class A Share?
Class A shares of common stock usually give shareholders a greater amount of voting rights than Class B and other classes of stock. They’re often held by a company’s executives and some members of management so that those in charge of the company can retain control of it in various situations, such as a hostile takeover attempt.
The Bottom Line
Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company run by Warren Buffett that owns a diverse range of businesses and minority stakes in public companies like Apple. The company’s vast market capitalization, over $1.05 trillion, makes it one of the largest public companies globally. Berkshire Hathaway’s success is largely due to Buffett’s value investing strategy, and its annual shareholder meetings have become a mecca for value investing proponents. Greg Abel was named the heir apparent to Buffett, who plans to retire as CEO in 2025.
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