What does the business do?
Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company whose subsidiaries operate in insurance, rail transport, energy, manufacturing, services and retail. It earns money from these businesses and from a portfolio of shares, bonds and other investments. Subsidiary managers run day-to-day operations, while the parent makes major decisions about acquisitions, investments and the allocation of available capital.
What to look at next
The detailed profile connects the business explanation with historical financial observations and their definitions.
- Business model: Insurance, operating businesses and capital allocation.
- Measures to understand: Underwriting results, subsidiary earnings and capital.
- Important distinctions: Insurance liabilities and the boundaries between group businesses.
Read each observation with its reporting period, currency, accounting basis and source. Historical results describe what happened; they do not establish future outcomes.
Source references
This overview summarises the business explanation on the existing profile. It is not a fresh audit of company disclosures. Detailed data dates and coverage limitations are shown within the signed-in dashboard.