Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search

May 17, 2008 12:40:37 AM CDT

Learn about Newser Points »

Back to the grid

Berkshire Hathaway's Q4 Income Off 18%  

Posted Feb 29, 08 6:30 PM CST in Business    Most Covered

(newser) – Citing a decline in gains from insurance underwriting and sluggish investment returns, holding company Berkshire Hathaway said today that fourth-quarter income was off 18%—to $2.95 billion, from $3.58 billion—from a year earlier, the Wall Street Journal reports. Billionaire chairman Warren Buffett snuck in digs at Wall Street and the federal government while effectively promising declining profit margins for years to come.

“That party is over,” Buffett wrote of Berkshire’s brisk business in insurance underwriting, where profits are down almost 50%. The financier's new subsidiary to bail out or poach business from flailing bond insurers—whose “financial folly” he blames for the economic downturn—is already looking good. Buffett also implicated the US government, criticizing “actions likely to evoke retaliatory behavior that will reduce America's exports.”

Source Wall Street Journal

open commentscomments (0)

Editor Recommended

The full Berkshire Hathaway annual report
Wall Street Journal

Berkshire Hathaway's Q4 Income Off 18%
A stock broker reacts to the ups and downs of the market,Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008. (AP Photo/Bernd Kammerer)   (Associated Press)
Berkshire Hathaway's Q4 Income Off 18%
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett speaks in New York in this June 26, 2007 file photo. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, posted an 18% drop in 4th quarter income.   (Associated Press)
Berkshire Hathaway's Q4 Income Off 18%
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett plays with a western band at the Justin Brands stage, during the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha, Neb., Saturday, May 5, 2007. Berkshire Hathaway...   (Associated Press)
Berkshire Hathaway's Q4 Income Off 18%
Warren Buffett Testifies Before Senate Finance Committee   (Getty Images)
Berkshire Hathaway's Q4 Income Off 18%
Berkshire's dismal earnings reflect the general insurance market downturn. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)   (Associated Press)
prev   next
play

Threads (1 of 2)

Tags

New York City  • Warren Buffett  • AIG  • Berkshire Hathaway  • Maryland  • insurance companies  • Omaha  • MBIA  • Ambac  • Oracle of Omaha  • General Reinsurance


Loading...

Loading...

Related Threads: Subprime Collapse, Is It Recession?

Next story from this section »

Today's Most Popular

Loading...

Other Business Stories

What is Newser?

2008 Codie Finalist

Newser gives you more news in less time. We search for the best and most important stories all over the web, read them for you, and deliver concise and sharp summaries—along with links to the full text. Newser provides a way to stay on top of an ever-expanding horizon of news and opinion—politics, sports, business, trends, technology, personalities, crimes, and controversies. Newser keeps you not just better informed, but, with our signature graphic interface and smart condensed format, more enjoyably informed.

Learn more »