Berkshire Hathaway

"The stock market fell of its own weight yesterday," as one local broker put it, adding, "there was no big selling pressure, just nobody buying. Everybody's on vacation."Pulled down by point-plus losses in IBM, Goodyear and Caterpillar, the Dow Jones industrial average declined 35.57, closing at 4,584.85. High-tech stocks stabilized a bit.PUMPED-UP PAYOUTS: "Steadily rising dividends are good signs for stock pickers. Here are companies that boosted payments each year and outstripped the overall market in total return (gain plus income.

OMAHA, Neb. -- Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the investment vehicle of billionaire Warren E. Buffett, said yesterday that it will pay $22 billion in stock for General Re Corp., the largest U.S. reinsurance company, creating one of the largest reinsurers in -- the world.The transaction values General Re at about $283.15 a share, or a 29 percent premium to its closing price of $220.25. General Re fell $3.875 in trading before the companies announced their merger.Berkshire will trade 0.0035 of its Class A shares or 0.105 of its B shares for each share of the Stamford, Conn.

NEW YORK -- In his annual reports to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shareholders, Chairman Warren Buffett shows a table that pits his investment record against the Standard & Poor's 500 index, the benchmark for most money managers.This year, the reading will look like an aberration. For the first time since 1980, Buffett, widely labeled as one of the world's shrewdest investors, won't beat the market.Buffett compares the annual percentage increases in Berkshire Hathaway's book value -- and there have been nothing but gains starting with 1965 -- with gains and losses in the S&P 500. Berkshire's book value, or net worth, includes its earnings over the years, the market value of its stocks and bonds and adjustments for acquisitions.

A new economics documentary that explores rising gas, food and health care costs will be presented in theaters across the nation Thursday, including at the Bel Air Cinema 14 at 8 p.m. The live panel discussion will feature Warren Buffet, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway; William Niskanen, chairman of the CATO Institute; Bill Novelli, CEO of AARP; and Dave Walker, president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and former U.S. comptroller...

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has $40 billion in cash and the world's most celebrated stock-picker in the top job. But it might not have its ultra-strong AAA bond rating much longer. Fitch Ratings revised its outlook on Berkshire's triple-A long term debt rating to "negative" from "neutral," saying the advancing age of Buffett, the company's chairman, exposes the company to a high level of "key person" risk. "Although the 74-year-old Mr. Buffett is reportedly in good health and has expressed no intention of retiring," Fitch said, it's far from certain that the famous investor's talents can be easily replaced.

Have biotech stocks flamed out? Money magazine says: "After months of tremendous returns, biotechnology investors have been badly burned, but the sector's long-term prospects are undeniably sweet. Here are smart ways to play the most volatile sector of all." Its Top 5 picks: Amgen Inc., Genentech Inc., Genzyme General Division, PE Biosystems Group Corp. and Pharmaceutical Product Development Inc. "Everybody is chasing short-term performance. Even the leveraged-buyout people are buying telephone companies instead of industrial companies.

Reebok International Ltd. said GEICO Corp. purchased 3.3 percent of its common shares in the second quarter.GEICO, the nation's seventh-largest automobile insurer, bought 2.9 million shares of the Stoughton, Mass.-based sneaker maker between April 1 and June 30, said Michael Seely, Reebok's spokesman.Shares of Reebok traded at an average price of $34.375 in the quarter, indicating that GEICO, based in Chevy Chase, paid about $100 million for the stock.Officials at GEICO, which is 48 percent-owned by investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., were unavailable for comment.

CHICAGO -- Warren E. Buffett is hardly a man of mystery. But when investors gather in Omaha, Neb., in two weeks for the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, there will be a nagging question mark over the head of the 76-year-old chairman: Who might someday replace him in each of the two roles he plays - chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, and its chief investment officer? A bit more is known about the choice of a future chief executive. Buffett has said there are three candidates from various Berkshire-owned companies.

In an article in Sunday's editions of The Sun, Geico Corp.'s policy on what type of drivers it insures was reported incorrectly. In fact, Geico insures preferred risk drivers as well as standard and non-standard drivers.The Sun regrets the error.For just four almost throwaway sentences, they produced a remarkable worldwide glare of publicity.But the paragraph was written by the world's richest man, Warren Buffett, about Louis A. Simpson, co-president of Geico Corp. of Chevy Chase.A simple nugget of praise convinced much of the financial world that the 65-year-old chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corp.

Legg Mason Inc. has entered into an agreement to buy the investment company run by Robert G. Hagstrom Jr., the author of a best-selling book about billionaire investor Warren Buffett, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.The Baltimore-based brokerage and money management firm plans to buy Focus Capital Advisory LP for an undisclosed price.Edward A. Taber III, a senior executive vice president at Legg, declined to discuss the transaction. "We might possibly be in the position over the next day or two to say something, possibly," Taber said.