3 ms·

The funny thing about buffet is this aw-shucks wise old stock picker grandpa image he has cultivated. He's a ruthless insider with somewhat unsavory friends in

The funny thing about buffet is this aw-shucks wise old stock picker grandpa image he has cultivated. He's a ruthless insider with somewhat unsavory friends in the insurance business, with questionable accounting histories. The dirty secret about berkshire is that it's predominantly an insurance company.

bokonist 18y ago
I'm curious, whare your sources for this statement? Any books or articles in particular?
condor 18y ago
its no dirty secret, google finance makes it pretty clear "Sector: Financial > Industry: Insurance (Prop. & Casualty)". It's possible there's questionable accounting in the history, but 30+ years into it, I'm surprised nothing major's come up seeing how large and public a target he and berkshire are and how many other accounting cheats have been netted.
- kingkongrevenge 18y ago
  It kinda has come up a few times if you care to google. The thing is, I don't think much ILLEGAL has gone on. Just ... questionable. Nothing strictly wrong with that, but it sort of flies in the face of all the nauseating buffet fawning. Tax avoidance is almost the bread and butter of international property and casualty. They help multi-nationals repatriate earnings in low tax countries. Nothing ILLEGAL about that... just something the sycophants probably don't realize.
bumbledraven 18y ago
The dirty secret about berkshire is that it's predominantly an insurance company. Hardly a secret - it's the first line of business listed in the first sentence in every year's annual report (see http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2007ar/2007ar.pdf http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2007ar/2007ar.pdf for example): "Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is a holding company owning subsidiaries that engage in a number of diverse business activities including property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, utilities and energy, finance, manufacturing, services and retailing. "

bokonist 18y ago

I'm curious, whare your sources for this statement? Any books or articles in particular?

condor 18y ago

its no dirty secret, google finance makes it pretty clear "Sector: Financial > Industry: Insurance (Prop. & Casualty)". It's possible there's questionable accounting in the history, but 30+ years into it, I'm surprised nothing major's come up seeing how large and public a target he and berkshire are and how many other accounting cheats have been netted.

kingkongrevenge 18y ago
It kinda has come up a few times if you care to google. The thing is, I don't think much ILLEGAL has gone on. Just ... questionable. Nothing strictly wrong with that, but it sort of flies in the face of all the nauseating buffet fawning. Tax avoidance is almost the bread and butter of international property and casualty. They help multi-nationals repatriate earnings in low tax countries. Nothing ILLEGAL about that... just something the sycophants probably don't realize.

bumbledraven 18y ago

The dirty secret about berkshire is that it's predominantly an insurance company. Hardly a secret - it's the first line of business listed in the first sentence in every year's annual report (see http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2007ar/2007ar.pdf http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2007ar/2007ar.pdf for example): "Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is a holding company owning subsidiaries that engage in a number of diverse business activities including property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, utilities and energy, finance, manufacturing, services and retailing. "