Berkshire Hathaway

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK) is a holding company conglomerate headquartered in Nebraska, US. Insurance and reinsurance operations are at the company’s core. Berkshire also operates businesses related to manufacturing, wholesale and retail distribution, energy, and railroads. Berkshire has been listed on the NYSE since 1988. The company generated a total revenue of USD 302 billion in 2022.

Berkshire’s insurance and reinsurance businesses include 1) Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO); 2) The Berkshire Hathaway Primary Group (BHPG); and 3) Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group (BHRG). Berkshire’s total insurance premiums amounted to USD 76.5 billion in 2022.

McLane Company was Berkshire’s largest revenue contributor outside of insurance operations (~8% of total revenue in 2022), which provides wholesale distribution of groceries and non-food items. Manufacturing businesses (~25%) include industrial, building, and consumer products (such as recreational vehicles, batteries, apparel, and footwear, etc.). Service and Retailing operations (~13%) include grocery and foodservice distribution, distribution of electronic components, professional aviation training programs, and shared aircraft ownership programs, etc. The Railroad segment (~9%) operates one of the largest railroad systems in North America, and the Utilities and Energy segment (~9%) generates, transmits, stores, distributes, and supplies energy globally.  

The US was the company’s largest insurance market (~81% of total IPW in 2022), followed by Asia Pacific (~8%), Western Europe (~8%), and Other (~3%). The company’s Utilities and Energy business plans to invest in wind, solar, and other low-carbon generation and to retire another 16 coal generation units between 2023 and 2030 to achieve a 50% reduction in GHG emissions from 2005 levels.