Berkshire Hathaway
Jordan Roy-Byrne Thinks Warren Buffet is Wrong--02-23-2012
Posted by admin / Under Berkshire Hathaway
Jordan Roy-Byrne of TheDailyGold.com believes Warren Buffet's derisive comments about prices and why investors purchase gold are totally off the mark. While the Oracle of Omaha has had a spectacular investing career, in the past five years, gold and silver have far outperformed his company, Berkshire Hathaway. In February of 2007, the Berkshire shares were trading around $71. Today those same shares are around $80. Contrast this with gold, which was around $660 in February 2007, and today it's at $1780. Where would you rather have invested? Even going back to February of 2000, Berkshire was around $30, and gold...
Published on Sunday 20th of May 2012 07:53:09 PM
Berkshire net down 40 percent on derivative losses
Posted by admin / Under Berkshire Hathaway
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) (BRKb.N) on Friday said second-quarter profit fell 40 percent, as declining stock prices depressed the value of his derivative contracts. Operating profit nevertheless soared 73 percent, helped by the takeover of railroad operator Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp, improvement in insurance underwriting results, and a turnaround in performance at the NetJets corporate plane unit. Net income fell to $1.97 billion, or $1,195 per Class A share, from $3.3 billion, or $2.123, a year earlier. Excluding investments, operating profit rose to $3.07 billion, or $1,866 per share, from $1.78 billion, or...
Published on Sunday 20th of May 2012 07:53:09 PM
Buffett Defends Goldman; Berkshire Posts Profit
Posted by admin / Under Berkshire Hathaway
Warren Buffett offered a vigorous defense of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Saturday, saying the embattled firm hadn't engaged in improper activity and shouldn't be blamed for the losses of its clients. Goldman has been reeling from Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that the bank had engaged in fraudulent activities in relation to a mortgage deal called Abacus 2007-AC1. Goldman says it did nothing wrong. The billionaire investor said he fully supported Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein. Asked if he could choose a successor for Mr. Blankfein, Mr. Buffett said: "If Lloyd had a twin brother I'd go for him." Buffett also...
Published on Sunday 20th of May 2012 07:53:09 PM
Hawker hit with large cancellation ( NetJets )
Posted by admin / Under Berkshire Hathaway
Hawker Beechcraft announced Monday that fractional ownership company NetJets has canceled a "significant" number of aircraft it had on order. The cancellations will reduce Hawker Beechcraft's backlog by $2.6 billion and represent 90 percent of the aircraft that NetJets has on order with Hawker Beechcraft. The planes were to have been delivered over several years beginning in 2011. So far this year, NetJets has canceled 12 aircraft it had on order and deferred delivery of all jets it was scheduled to receive this year and next until the end of 2010. Hawker Beechcraft has said that NetJets wasn't expected to...
Published on Sunday 20th of May 2012 07:53:09 PM
NetJets Laying Off 500 Pilots
Posted by admin / Under Berkshire Hathaway
Demand for private jets is way down and NetJets will lay off almost 500 pilots as a result -- almost 20% of its staff of 3,000 pilots. because of a decrease in demand. NetJets is a unit of investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway
Published on Sunday 20th of May 2012 07:53:09 PM
More Buffett And The Pigman
Posted by admin / Under Berkshire Hathaway
It seems my previous article has garnered a bit of criticism from someone I hold in rather high regard, indicating that perhaps I have been less than clear in my criticism. Let me be clear: There is nothing wrong with making a lot of money, and leveraging your wealth into making even more money! It doesn't surprise me that those with lots of money get "special dispensation" in the form of conversations with Treasury Secretaries and other members of the government. The "little people" - that is you and I - will never get that sort of treatment, simply because...
Published on Sunday 20th of May 2012 07:53:09 PM
Warren Buffett: Human?
Posted by admin / Under Berkshire Hathaway
Since I am still a young buck, I am often surprised to read past works of financial commentators who I respect very much and find that their commentary reflects present trends. I was directed by the excellent Felix Salmon to an article that Michael Lewis wrote in 1992 about Mr. Buffet's rescue of the troubled Salomon Brothers. His windfall came out of the shareholders' pockets, since his cheap option dilutes the value of the existing shares. Although a few of them sued, the deal never met the popular resistance it deserved, mainly because it involved Buffett. Public feeling was that...
Published on Sunday 20th of May 2012 07:53:09 PM
Buffett's Berkshire squeezed by losses (losses in derivatives)
Posted by admin / Under Berkshire Hathaway
Derivatives plague Berkshire. Buffett said at the shareholders' meeting last week that losses from defaults and bad bets on derivatives would cut into the company's profit and revenue. Berkshire's insurance business, like many other insurers, has written some contracts on derivatives, promising to pay its trading partners in the event of default on the underlying assets. Defaults had been rising sharply ever since the housing market and economy took a beating. The company's derivative-related losses totaled $986 million in the quarter, down 7.6% from the $1.1 billion of derivative losses the company suffered in the year-earlier quarter. The recession has...
Published on Sunday 20th of May 2012 07:53:09 PM
Two Berkshire towns plagued by rats which have become immune to poison...
Posted by admin / Under Berkshire Hathaway
Two towns in Berkshire are suffering a rise in the rat population because vermin have developed near-immunity to standard poisons, pest control experts have warned. The British Pest Control Association (BPCA) is calling on the Government to allow the use of more powerful pesticides to contain Britain's growing rodent population. It is estimated that their numbers have swelled by 13 per cent in the past year to more than 50 million, one for every person living in England. doubled in the past 12 months. Exeter council has seen a 66 per cent rise in vermin call-outs in 2008, while there...
Published on Sunday 20th of May 2012 07:53:09 PM
Buffett dispenses gloom at Berkshire fest
Posted by admin / Under Berkshire Hathaway
Berkshire's stock has fallen 39 percent since December 2007, but Buffett said no stock buybacks are planned because Berkshire's share price is not "demonstrably below" the company's intrinsic value. Profit fell 62 percent last year. Buffett offered a gloomy forecast for parts of the economy and Berkshire itself, saying some units are laying off workers as managers "look at the reality of the current situation." Warren Buffett told a record crowd at a somber annual meeting of his Berkshire Hathaway Inc that first-quarter operating profit fell and the company's book value declined 6 percent, as the recession hurt many of...
Published on Sunday 20th of May 2012 07:53:09 PM
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