Berkshire Hathaway: An American Empire

Berkshire Hathaway, the 13th largest U.S. company on the Fortune 1,000 list of America’s biggest companies is a sprawling conglomerate that touches everything from insurance, to underwear, to newspapers, to utilities and manufacturing. Berkshire owns at least 51 subsidiaries. The company is also a minority investor in some of America’s most famous brands, adhering to CEO Warren Buffett’s belief in long-term value investing. Here’s a look at some of Berkshire Hathaway’s diverse lines of business.

by Kent Bernhard, Jr.

Geico has a gecko for a spokesman and off-the-wall ads featuring cavemen, but this subsidiary of Berkshire-Hathaway has built a solid business out of selling low-priced auto insurance. Geico has over $15 billion in assets and has earned a AAA credit rating from Standard & Poors, the highest mark of creditworthiness.

Besides Geico, Berkshire Hathaway has these insurance subsidiaries: General Re, a holding company for global reinsurance and related activities; the Berkshire Hathaway Group, which provides annuities; and property and casualty insurer National Indemnity Company.

Underwear is serious business for Berkshire Hathaway, which owns one of the most recognizable brands of underwear makers on the planet, Fruit of the Loom.

The 150-year-old company is one of several manufacturing and apparel subsidiaries of Berkshire Hathaway. The company also owns Benjamin Moore, the maker of paints and finishes; Acme Brick, a housing brickmaker; Garan Inc., the maker of Garanimals clothing; uniform maker Fechheimer Brothers Company; Iscar Metalworking, a maker of cutting tools for metalworking; the Scott Fetzer Companies, which makes calibration products and medical devices; and Shaw Industries, a maker of carpet and other flooring.

The Berkshire Hathaway empire can go upscale as well, with subsidiaries in the jewelry business. Ben Bridge Jewelers has more registered jewelers and certified gemologists of the American Gem Society than any other jeweler in North America. It’s stores are spread throughout the west, from Anchorage, Alaska, to Houston Texas, with locations in all of California’s major metropolitan areas.

Also in the upscale retail space, the company also owns Borsheims Fine Jewelry and Star Furniture, with showrooms in several Texas metropolitan areas. And Berkshire is the parent company to The Pampered Chef line of upscale kitchen gadgets.

Berkshire Hathaway is the owner of a newspaper, The Buffalo News in upstate New York, as well as of news release service Business Wire, which is one of the leading distributors of press releases, photos, multimedia and regulatory filings from companies and groups throughout the world.

If you’ve ever had a Blizzard, thank Warren Buffett. Berkshire Hathaway owns International Dairy Queen, the franchisor for the Dairy Queen brand. With more than 5,700 locations around the United States, run by independent franchisees, Dairy Queen is one of the most visible of the Berkshire Hathaway companies.

Berkshire Hathaway is deeply into the energy business, as the owner of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company. The company produces energy from geothermal, natural gas, hydroelectric, nuclear, coal and wind. MidAmerican has about 6.9 million electricity and gas customers. Mid American subsidiaries include MidAmerican Energy Company, PacifiCorp, CE Electric UK, Cal Energy Generation, Kern River Gas Transmission Company and Northern Natural Gas.

Berkshire Hathaway is an investor in some of the most recognizable companies in America, among them: American Express Company, The Coca-Cola Company, ConocoPhillips, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Foods Inc., The Procter & Gamble Company, and Wells Fargo & Company.

In the biggest deal of his career, Warren Buffett plans to have Berkshire Hathaway buy the 77.4 percent of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. the company doesn’t already own. The billionaire investor calls the $26 billion deal a bet on America.