Berkshire Hathaway

Warren Buffett to the rescue: His Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed yesterday to invest $5 billion in Goldman Sachs Group by way of a purchase of preferred stock. Berkshire also will get warrants to buy up to $5 billion of Goldman common shares. The deal, announced after markets closed, amounts to a huge vote of confidence by Buffett in Goldman, at a time when investors remain spooked about the future of the investment banking business. "Goldman Sachs is an exceptional institution," Buffett said in a statement.

Sinai Hospital opens $55 million expansion Sinai Hospital at 2401 W. Belvedere Ave. in Baltimore opened an "eco-friendly" addition Thursday that includes a 29-bed intensive care unit, a 36-bed intermediate care unit, a helipad and an atrium with a 40-foot waterfall. Hord Coplan Macht of Baltimore designed the $55 million, four-story building called the South Tower Expansion. According to the hospital, the new 87,000-square-foot building features "the area's first hospital roof garden," with low-maintenance plants that are expected to mature in two to three years.

OMAHA, Neb. - Billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. reported yesterday a third-quarter profit of $1.14 billion as its insurance units raised prices. Net income was $744 a share, compared with a loss of $679 million, or $445 a share, a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Earnings from operations were $1.1 billion compared with a loss of $895 million in last year's third quarter. Berkshire's car insurer, Geico Corp., and National Indemnity Co., its reinsurance company, have increased rates and are beginning to recover after paying large claims after the terrorist attacks of September last year.

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life By Alice Schroeder Bantam Books / 960 pages / $35 When he was 21 and "people weren't listening," Warren Buffett says, half in jest, he gave his best financial advice. Now he can say "the dumbest things in the world," and investors will bet the farm that he's right. The world's richest man, Buffett has become an American legend. He has lived in the same relatively modest house for 50 years. He has made millions for shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway.

OMAHA, Neb. -- Stephen M. Wolf, chief executive of US Airways Group Inc., is capable of reversing the fortunes of the troubled airline, one of its major investors said yesterday.Warren E. Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, a major investor in US Airways, gave his optimistic assessment of Wolf at the holding company's annual meeting.His view was somewhat of a turnaround. Yesterday he characterized as a mistake Hathaway's initial investment in US Airways in 1989."I made a mistake getting into [US Airways]

Warren E. Buffett, the world's second-richest man, said yesterday that he will buy the 49 percent of Chevy Chase-based Geico Corp. he does not already control, giving his Berkshire Hathaway Corp. full ownership of one of only eight Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Maryland.Geico stock jumped $12.875 to close at $68.625 yesterday after Berkshire Hathaway offered to pay $70 for each Geico share, an offer that will cost $2.3 billion. The deal is scheduled to close in January, after approval by Geico shareholders and state insurance regulators.

LONDON -- Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said yesterday that he was having trouble finding value in U.S. stocks."The general level of the stock market does not offer much opportunity to buy things at prices that we consider appropriate," said Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., at a news conference in London."

WASHINGTON -- Billionaire investor Warren Buffett reported his third significant stake in a real estate investment trust, stating that he owns 5.1 percent of Baltimore-based Town & Country Trust.Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., holds 797,200 common shares in Town & Country, according to a Schedule 13G filed yesterday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.In recent months, Buffett has also reported buying shares in Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. and MGI Properties Inc. While Buffett often provides stock picks for Berkshire Hathaway, the REIT stakes have been listed solely under his own name in SEC filings.

NEW YORK -Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., says his investing mistakes have included textiles and windmills. Add Sheetrock to the list. USG Corp., the biggest U.S. wallboard maker, filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday, responding to a flood of lawsuits from people who say its products caused cancer and asbestos-related lung disease. Berkshire Hathaway was the biggest USG shareholder as of March, according to regulatory filings. "It may simply be a mistake," said James Armstrong, president of Henry H. Armstrong Associates, which owns $40 million in Berkshire shares.

In an unusual strategic disposal, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said yesterday that it would sell its McLane Co. division to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in a $1.45 billion deal that puts Berkshire in position to become the dominant player in the food-distribution industry. For Wal-Mart, selling a piece of itself is a rare event; one company executive could not recall it happening before. For Berkshire Hathaway, the purchase seems especially well-timed, with many of McLane's competitors such as Fleming Cos. of Lewisville, Texas, and U.S. Foodservice of Columbia, Md., either foundering or under investigation.

Warren Buffett to the rescue: His Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed yesterday to invest $5 billion in Goldman Sachs Group by way of a purchase of preferred stock. Berkshire also will get warrants to buy up to $5 billion of Goldman common shares. The deal, announced after markets closed, amounts to a huge vote of confidence by Buffett in Goldman, at a time when investors remain spooked about the future of the investment banking business. "Goldman Sachs is an exceptional institution," Buffett said in a statement.

Federal prosecutors are expected to call Warren E. Buffett, the chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, to testify in the trial of five senior insurance executives accused of helping the American International Group manipulate its finances through $500 million in fraudulent transactions, according to court papers filed yesterday. The former executives - four from the General Re Corp., part of Berkshire Hathaway, and one from AIG - were indicted in 2006 on charges of fraud, conspiracy and lying to the Securities and Exchange Commission over what the government has called a scheme to inflate AIG's reserves.

Nation: Banking Bank of America boosts overdraft fee For the third time in 20 months, Bank of America Corp. has increased the fees it charges customers who overdraw accounts or bounce checks. The fee for each overdraft or returned item during the first day an account is overdrawn was increased from $19 to $20, and the fee for each overdraft or returned item on subsequent days was set at $35. The Feb. 16 change eliminated the middle tier in the bank's overdraft fee structure. Under Bank of America's policy, the maximum number of overdraft fees that can be charged per day is five.

LOS ANGELES -- With an annual salary of $100,000, Charles T. Munger is hardly your typical big-company chief executive. But he doesn't exactly need the money. A founder of the Los Angeles law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson, Munger gave up practicing law in 1965 to focus on managing his investments. In 1978, he teamed up with fellow Omaha, Neb., native Warren E. Buffett to run holding company Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The results are the stuff of business legend, and Munger's Berkshire Hathaway shares are valued at $1.7 billion.

ATLANTA -- In a highly unusual move, the Coca-Cola Co. announced yesterday that its board of directors will only get paid if the company hits earnings targets. "This is a pretty aggressive move," said John Faucher, an analyst at JPMorgan, who annually does a corporate governance report on the industry. "I've never heard of anything like it." The plan, which takes effect this year, grants directors equity share units equal to $175,000 per year if the company meets its earnings target over three years.

HOLLYWOOD -- The Oracle of Omaha is Tinseltown's newest animated hero. But, at least in Warren E. Buffett's crystal ball, he still has no future here. "I can't afford to go Hollywood," he said. "There's no money in this stuff." If anyone knows the value of a dollar, it's a guy with 40 billion of them. Which is why the world's second-richest individual decided to become a cartoon character to teach children financial responsibility. Working pro bono, Buffett will play himself in a 13-part DVD series, The Secret Millionaire's Club, produced by DIC Entertainment Corp.

Federal prosecutors are expected to call Warren E. Buffett, the chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, to testify in the trial of five senior insurance executives accused of helping the American International Group manipulate its finances through $500 million in fraudulent transactions, according to court papers filed yesterday. The former executives - four from the General Re Corp., part of Berkshire Hathaway, and one from AIG - were indicted in 2006 on charges of fraud, conspiracy and lying to the Securities and Exchange Commission over what the government has called a scheme to inflate AIG's reserves.

Warren E. Buffett, the widely followed Nebraska investor, is betting $2 billion that there is money to be made in stocks that deal with money. He disclosed yesterday that his holding company had purchased stakes in two major financial services companies: 9.8 percent of American Express Co. and 8.3 percent of PNC Bank Corp. of Pittsburgh.Many investors like to mimic Mr. Buffett's investments, and shares of both companies surged yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock of American Express rose $1.375, to $33.50, its highest level in eight years.

Civil and criminal complaints are expected to be announced today against three former top executives at the Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary General Reinsurance Corp., and a former senior executive of the American International Group, according to people with direct knowledge of the charges. Those expected to be named in the indictment and civil charges are Ronald E. Ferguson, General Re's former chief executive; Elizabeth A. Monrad, the former chief financial officer; and Robert Graham, the former general counsel.

When Yogi Berra, baseball's king of misguided logic, was asked by a waitress whether he wanted his pizza cut into four or eight slices, he responded: "Better make it four. I don't think I can eat eight." Stock splits are a lot like slicing pizza. Whenever a company splits its shares 2-for-1 or 3-for-1, the investor winds up with more shares, but the value of the investment isn't any greater. Reasonably priced shares tend to attract more money from average investors, giving the stock a boost, but such results are not assured.