Is Berkshire Hathaway a fund or a company?

Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company for a multitude of businesses, including GEICO and Fruit of the Loom. It's run by chair and CEO Warren Buffett. Berkshire Hathaway is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.

Berkshire Hathaway is a large cap holding company that owns dozens of businesses, cash and equity investments. Reminder: it's not a mutual fund or an ETF fund. It's a corporation with Warren Buffett as Chairman and CEO.

Berkshire Hathaway is a diversified multinational holding company with full ownership of such well-known brands as GEICO, Duracell, Fruit of the Loom, and Dairy Queen. Berkshire also has significant holdings in many other publicly traded companies, including Coca-Cola, Bank of America, American Express, and Apple.

Technically speaking Berkshire Hathaway is not a hedge fund, it is a holding company. Although Berkshire operates similarly to a hedge fund in terms of investing in stocks and other securities, it does not take performance fees based on the positive returns generated every year.

As many of its assets are insurance subsidiaries, Berkshire Hathaway is also a rival of large insurance firms such as Allstate Corporation (ALL). Berkshire is sometimes considered a management investment company, competing with players like BlackRock, Inc.

To buy shares in Berkshire Hathaway, you will need to set up a brokerage account, fund it and create a purchase market or limit order to buy Class A or B shares of Berkshire Hathaway, symbols, BRK. A and BRK.

The BRK Class B Stock Fund (the “Fund”) seeks to provide long-term growth of capital by investing almost exclusively in Berkshire Hathaway Class B stock. Learn more about this portfolio's investment strategy and policy.

Institutional investors hold a majority ownership of BRKB through the 65.42% of the outstanding shares that they control. This interest is also higher than at almost any other company in the Multi-Line Insurance industry.

The top shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway class B shares are Warren E. Buffett, Ronald L. Olson, Meryl B.

Buffett famously resisted splitting Berkshire's shares, something companies normally do to make it easier to trade their stock. As the company's chief executive officer (CEO), he kept the price high to make it harder to trade and to discourage short-term trading which would increase the stock's volatility.

Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company run by Warren Buffett that owns a diverse range of private businesses and significant minority interests in public companies such as Apple. It has a market capitalization of over $715 billion and is the sixth-largest public company in the world.

Despite being a large, mature, and stable company, Berkshire Hathaway does not pay dividends to its investors. Instead, the company chooses to reinvest retained earnings into new projects, investments, and acquisitions.

While mutual funds carry fees of one percent or more, Berkshire Hathaway spends very little on administration. Second, owning shares in Berkshire Hathaway exposes you to a diverse mix of industries and a broad array of companies within those industries.

Berkshire Hathaway actually produces a diverse mix of products and services, while BlackRock limits its activities to financial services. Berkshire Hathaway is certainly out to make a profit, but it takes a long-term, value-based view of investing.

Although Berkshire Hathaway's stock portfolio – worth about $351 billion – comprises 55 positions, it's not quite as diversified as you might expect for a grouping of that many stocks.

Berkshire Hathaway B currently has an average brokerage recommendation (ABR) of 1.00, on a scale of 1 to 5 (Strong Buy to Strong Sell), calculated based on the actual recommendations (Buy, Hold, Sell, etc.) made by three brokerage firms. An ABR of 1.00 indicates Strong Buy.

Key Data Points. Berkshire Hathaway differs from other investment firms, like hedge funds. Anyone can invest in Berkshire Hathaway if they have enough money to buy at least one Class B share (less than $350 in mid-2023).

Hedge Funds vs Berkshire Hathaway Stocks

Unlike hedge funds, Berkshire Hathaway doesn't dabble in non-traditional assets, and there are no short positions in Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio. Hedge funds are exclusive – only the wealthy can participate.

These stocks are less risky than most.

The legendary investor didn't amass a fortune of over $113 billion by taking ill-advised risks. It makes sense, therefore, that many of the stocks in Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK. A -0.45%) (BRK. B -0.26%) portfolio are built for the long haul.

Ultimately, Berkshire, despite its reputation, is a stock that's only matched the S&P 500 for the last 20 years, and it will eventually lose Buffett's stewardship. There are better places to look in the market for the stocks that promise more growth, have disruptive potential, and have more focused missions.

Berkshire Hathaway (Class B, BRK.B)

Through the first half of 2023, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation owned a little over 25.1 million shares.

Investors often turn to Warren Buffett looking for stock tips, and he has given the same advice for years: Periodically put money into an S&P 500 index fund. Some readers may be surprised by that recommendation given that Buffett runs Berkshire Hathaway, but he has never actually recommended Berkshire stock to anyone.

Berkshire Hathaway CEO and chairman Warren Buffett's net worth is now an estimated $124 billion. Buffett is the sixth-wealthiest person in the world, worth more than Larry Page and Mark Zuckerberg. The famous investor is known for living modestly and being one of the world's most generous philanthropists.

Warren Buffett owns 229,016 shares of Berkshire Hathaway's Class A common stock (BRK. A) and 276 shares of its Class B common stock (BRK. B), representing approximately 37.4% of the outstanding Class A shares and less than 0.01% of the outstanding Class B shares, according to an SEC filing.

Key Takeaways. Berkshire Hathaway owns businesses in insurance, rail transportation, energy generation and distribution, manufacturing, and retailing. Insurance generates the most revenue, but manufacturing generates the most earnings before taxes.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. - Class A (US:BRK. A) has 1086 institutional owners and shareholders that have filed 13D/G or 13F forms with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). These institutions hold a total of 152,000 shares.

BlackRock is not owned by a single individual or company. Instead, its shares are owned by a large number of individual and institutional investors. The biggest institutional shareholders such as The Vanguard Group and State Street are merely custodians of the stock for their clients.