Buffett/Berkshire - general news

[Hektor]

1 hour ago, gfp said:

It will be interesting if one of the big changes in the Greg Abel era is Berkshire selling some companies.  So far they have sold Applied Underwriters (likely an Ajit decision) and maybe possibly HomeServices (likely a Greg decision).  I would be surprised if any deal allowed the brokerages to continue using the Berkshire Hathaway brand name.  Also rare to have a potential Berkshire deal leak to the press before being announced.

I wonder what is included in the sale? Are they bundling other things from the empire? Any + and/or - to HomeServices. 

 

I also wonder if this is in part driven by the legal/regulatory climate BHE has faced in the recent past.

[gfp]

1 hour ago, Hektor said:

I wonder what is included in the sale? Are they bundling other things from the empire? Any + and/or - to HomeServices. 

 

I also wonder if this is in part driven by the legal/regulatory climate BHE has faced in the recent past.

 

Not really the legal regulatory climate BHE has faced but the legal / regulatory climate the realtors have faced.  It's been the realtor business's version of wild fire liability.

 

Start on page 103 ->

https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0001081316/000108131625000004/bhe-20241231.htm

[gfp]

Apparently these people knew about deal rumors and put it online back on March 3rd -

https://chicagoagentmagazine.com/2025/03/03/lonely-hearts-club/

 

[DooDiligence]

Realtors. Good riddance.

[gfp]

[ValueMaven]

WSJ has some major explaining to do....

[KPO]

Just now, ValueMaven said:

WSJ has some major explaining to do....

Maybe what he and the WSJ is saying is true, but in the inverse. Would Berkshire try to buy Compass? Stranger things have happened. 

[Hektor]

16 hours ago, gfp said:

ot really the legal regulatory climate BHE has faced but the legal / regulatory climate the realtors have faced.  It's been the realtor business's version of wild fire liability.

 

Start on page 103 ->

https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0001081316/000108131625000004/bhe-20241231.htm

Thanks @gfp

[Hektor]

3 minutes ago, KPO said:

Would Berkshire try to buy Compass? Stranger things have happened. 

Thats interesting.

[jbwent63]

22 hours ago, gfp said:

 

Who knows but I doubt that it has anything to do with that team from MTO that went over to Baker McKenzie.  If the story is true, the subsidiary was probably shopped with an investment bank and a bunch of people aware of the process.  Just not a usual position for Berkshire to be the seller shopping a company for sale.  At least there isn't a security to go nuts and mess with the deal.

 

** plus everyone in Des Moines knows that Greg talks in his sleep when he nods off at hockey games

Thanks. I didnt know the MTO folks went to BM. That explains why the change. I must have missed that....if BH wanted to purify BHE for a future transaction (IPO?) they wouldn't need to sell it, just move it under BH or NICO and add it to the MSR group of companies, which is where it belongs anyway.

[gfp]

5 minutes ago, jbwent63 said:

I didnt know the MTO folks went to BM. That explains why the change. I must have missed that..

 

It was only a small team that works on Berkshire's corporate bond offerings.  I don't think they have changed law firms for their M&A business.  Although any subsidiary can work with any law firm they choose.

[gfp]

Brk proxy

 

https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1067983/000119312525054877/d812428ddef14a.htm

 

ron Olson ages out!

Any Director who controls a 5% or greater voting interest in the Company will be eligible to be reelected after his or her 80th birthday.

Accordingly, Mr. Ronald Olson who is 83 and has been a Berkshire Director since 1997 is not eligible to stand for reelection.

Edited March 14, 2025 by gfp

[John Hjorth]

Page 2, paragraph 1 :

 

Quote

... During 2024, the Board of Directors amended Berkshire’s Corporate Governance Guidelines regarding director qualifications. The amendment provides that except as follows, a director will no longer be eligible for reelection after his or her 80^th birthday.

 

1)

Any Director who also serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Company shall retire from the Board effective upon his or her retirement from the Company unless requested by the independent directors to continue as a director.

 

2)

Any Director who controls a 5% or greater voting interest in the Company will be eligible to be reelected after his or her 80th birthday.

Accordingly, Mr. Ronald Olson who is 83 and has been a Berkshire Director since 1997 is not eligible to stand for reelection.

Upon the recommendation of the Governance Committee and Mr. Buffett, the Board of Directors has nominated for election the other 13 current directors. ...

 

- I've never in my life seen this combination of age and ownership requirements for director qualification.

Edited March 14, 2025 by John Hjorth

[Munger_Disciple]

3 hours ago, gfp said:

Brk proxy

 

https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1067983/000119312525054877/d812428ddef14a.htm

 

ron Olson ages out!

Any Director who controls a 5% or greater voting interest in the Company will be eligible to be reelected after his or her 80th birthday.

Accordingly, Mr. Ronald Olson who is 83 and has been a Berkshire Director since 1997 is not eligible to stand for reelection.

 

Susan Decker is the new lead independent director. The strange thing is that she owns almost no Berkshire stock. But the proxy states that any new board member nominee should own significant BRK stock relative to his/her net worth. 

[yesman182]

So will Howard and Susan “control” a 5% position when they turn 80 in 9 years? 

[gfp]

12 hours ago, Munger_Disciple said:

 

Susan Decker is the new lead independent director. The strange thing is that she owns almost no Berkshire stock. But the proxy states that any new board member nominee should own significant BRK stock relative to his/her net worth. 

 

She has been the 'lead independent director' since 2021.  She served on the Costco board for many years with Charlie and she has been on BRK's board for a long time now.  She is considered a financial / audit expert and worked as a securities analyst for several years before her time at yahoo.  She never worked for Berkshire and doesn't earn much as a director there (although she is a dreaded "serial BoD member").  I don't know if she is a good director or what her net worth is but Warren and Charlie seem to like her and trust her.

 

Seems like some rule or guideline persuaded them to appoint a "lead independent director" in 2021.  Before that they just left it out.  I had remembered Gates as lead independent director but it doesn't look like he was. 

[73 Reds]

2 minutes ago, gfp said:

 

She has been the 'lead independent director' since 2021.  She served on the Costco board for many years with Charlie and she has been on BRK's board for a long time now.  She is considered a financial / audit expert and worked as a securities analyst for several years before her time at yahoo.  She never worked for Berkshire and doesn't earn much as a director there (although she is a dreaded "serial BoD member").  I don't know if she is a good director or what her net worth is but Warren and Charlie seem to like her and trust her.

 

Seems like some rule or guideline persuaded them to appoint a "lead independent director" in 2021.  Before that they just left it out.  I had remembered Gates as lead independent director but it doesn't look like he was. 

The makeup of the BOD may be one of the more interesting facets of Berkshire once Buffett is gone.  My guess is a rift may develop between those who want to strictly maintain the culture instituted by Buffett while others may vote for changes in an attempt to derive more shareholder value.  Hopefully a congenial balance will result in a company whose primary objectives become a bit less restrictive than Buffett's empire building and preservation of capital.   

[Munger_Disciple]

4 hours ago, gfp said:

 

She has been the 'lead independent director' since 2021.  She served on the Costco board for many years with Charlie and she has been on BRK's board for a long time now.  She is considered a financial / audit expert and worked as a securities analyst for several years before her time at yahoo.  She never worked for Berkshire and doesn't earn much as a director there (although she is a dreaded "serial BoD member").  I don't know if she is a good director or what her net worth is but Warren and Charlie seem to like her and trust her.

 

Seems like some rule or guideline persuaded them to appoint a "lead independent director" in 2021.  Before that they just left it out.  I had remembered Gates as lead independent director but it doesn't look like he was. 

 

Thanks! I didn't know Decker has been the "lead" independent director since 2021. I always assumed that Ron Olson was the "lead" director given his high visibility public profile during annual meetings. Since MTO did legal work for Berkshire, I suppose he wasn't technically independent, so they probably anointed Decker to that role due to some rule. I guess Howard Buffett would ultimately be the "lead" independent director and Chairman in the future. 

[ValueMaven]

re Decker: 

 

 

[Spekulatius]

Berkshire selling the real estate brokerage business:

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/16/buffetts-berkshire-may-sell-its-real-estate-business-what-it-means.html

 

Seems odd since they typically don’t sell fully owned business, but I think the brokerage business has been impaired with the recent changes in brokerage  commission transparency . From my limited experience, commissions have downward pressure, especially the buyers side part.

[Blugolds]

41 minutes ago, Spekulatius said:

Berkshire selling the real estate brokerage business:

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/16/buffetts-berkshire-may-sell-its-real-estate-business-what-it-means.html

 

Seems odd since they typically don’t sell fully owned business, but I think the brokerage business has been impaired with the recent changes in brokerage  commission transparency . From my limited experience, commissions have downward pressure, especially the buyers side part.

Wasnt this debunked? 

 

https://www.housingwire.com/articles/compass-in-negotiations-to-buy-homeservices-of-america/

[nwoodman]

TOKYO, March 17 (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway raised its holdings in five Japanese trading houses, regulatory filings showed on Monday, in the U.S. conglomerate's latest investments in Japan's top commodity firms that began nearly five years ago.

 

https://www.reuters.com/markets/wealth/berkshire-raises-stakes-japanese-trading-houses-filings-show-2025-03-17/

[Gamecock-YT]

8 minutes ago, nwoodman said:

TOKYO, March 17 (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway raised its holdings in five Japanese trading houses, regulatory filings showed on Monday, in the U.S. conglomerate's latest investments in Japan's top commodity firms that began nearly five years ago.

 

https://www.reuters.com/markets/wealth/berkshire-raises-stakes-japanese-trading-houses-filings-show-2025-03-17/

 

I thought I saw this on gfp's latest NAIC files but wasn't sure if those were already cooked in or not. But those were just Sumitomo, Mitsui, and Itochu. 

[nwoodman]

11 minutes ago, Gamecock-YT said:

 

I thought I saw this on gfp's latest NAIC files but wasn't sure if those were already cooked in or not. But those were just Sumitomo, Mitsui, and Itochu. 

It was certainly telegraphed via his letter  but good to see it actually happen

[jbwent63]

8 hours ago, Gamecock-YT said:

 

I thought I saw this on gfp's latest NAIC files but wasn't sure if those were already cooked in or not. But those were just Sumitomo, Mitsui, and Itochu. 

The filings with the Japanese market regulator (EDINET) show slightly higher balances for each of the Japanese companies as of today than were held on December 31, 2024 (the date of the NAIC filings). I am still a bit bewildered as to why they are filing now when NICO had already increased its ownership of these corps, but there must be a reason. They now own between 9.82% (Mitsui) and 8.53% (Itochu) of these firms.