Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK.A), an American multinational conglomerate holdings company with the highest-priced shares on the New York Stock Exchange, sells for over $210,000 USD per Class A share, as of 2016. Headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, the company wholly owns GEICO, BNSF Railway, Fruit of the Loom, Dairy Queen, FlightSafety International, NetJets, just to name a few of the high-profile companies making up the multinational conglomerate. It has averaged an annual growth in book value of 19.7% to its shareholders for the last 49 years while employing large amounts of capital and minimal debt.
Berkshire Hathaway was originally a textile manufacturing company established by Oliver Chace in 1839, and was eventually taken control of by Warren Buffett, an American business magnate considered by many as the most successful investor in the world. After taking control of Berkshire Hathaway's core textiles business in the 1960s, he ventured into the insurance industry, with the purchase of the National Indemnity Company, and by the late 1970s had acquired an equity stake in GEICO, or the Government Employees Insurance Company. The company currently owns a diverse range of businesses, including confectionery, retail, railroad, home furnishings, encyclopedias, jewelry sales, and several regional utility companies. It is also the largest investor in multiple blue chip companies, with its some of its largest investments in Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE: WFC), Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO), International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM), and American Express Corp. (NYSE: AXP).
Warren Buffett is often referred to as the "Oracle of Omaha" and has been consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people. Every year, tens of thousands make the pilgrimage to the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting, where he and his No.2 Charlie Munger answer questions all day about the economy, investing, politics, and life. He is known for his personal frugality and philanthropy, as well as his investment philosophies which focus on value investing, an investment model based on buying securities that are deemed to be underpriced by fundamental analysis. Buffett notably stated that value investing for him means "finding an outstanding company at a sensible price," rather than generic companies at bargain prices. His strict adherence to opportunities with long-term growth potential is evident in his investments in publicly traded companies during the early years at Berkshire Hathaway, but more recently he has been more focused on buying whole companies.
Berkshire Hathaway's Class A shares have never had a stock split, explained by the management's investment philosophies and desire to attract long-term investors over short-term speculators. Despite Buffet's reluctance to create significantly cheaper Class B stock, the company did so in order to thwart the creation of unit trusts that would have marketed themselves as Berkshire look-alikes to take advantage of unsophisticated investors. Because of the extremely high price-tag for each share, most investors are able to hold only a tiny piece of the company, if at all. However, Berkshire Hathaway is the definition of sustained corporate growth, with net income increasing essentially every single year by consistent substantial margins, making it a relatively safe investment for those who can afford to. Also available are Class B shares, which are priced at slightly above $140 USD per unit.
As usual, the company has been actively investing in stakes in an extremely diverse range of established businesses, with stakes in General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ). For those looking for a long-term investment opportunity, Berkshire Hathaway remains an incredibly attractive option.