Brutal Market Doesn't Spare Buffett

Oracle of Omaha will stick to his usual investments, thank you

(NEWSER) - Warren Buffett says he's just itching to make another big deal for his beloved Berkshire Hathaway, but you won't catch him frothing over the slew of initial public offerings expected in the tech world, reports Bloomberg . “Most of them will be overpriced,” said Buffett. "It’s extremely difficult to value social-networking-site companies. Some will be huge winners, which will make up for the rest." More»

Berkshire subsidiary pays top dollar for distributor

(NEWSER) - Warren Buffett, who watchers had expected to buy a beer distributor, made a recent bet on wine instead, reports Business Insider, in a move that reflects the drinking habits of aging baby boomers. A subsidiary of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has a deal in place to buy Empire Distributing, a niche wine distributor based in Atlanta and operating in Georgia and North Carolina—and he probably paid top dollar, reports Wine & Spirits Daily . More»

Deal will be Berkshire Hathaway's largest ever

(NEWSER) - Berkshire Hathaway has agreed to buy up the 77.4% of railroad operator Burlington Northern Santa Fe it didn’t already own for $26 billion, in what would be Warren Buffett’s largest acquisition ever. “It’s an all-in wager on the economic future of the United States,” says Buffett. “I love those bets.” Buffett says he uses railroad data as an indicator of the nation’s financial health. More»

Investor looks to clean up on crisis, but is moving out of stocks

(NEWSER) - Even Warren Buffett had a bad financial crisis: The Omaha sage personally lost $25 billion in 2008, enough to put him behind Bill Gates on the worldwide rich list. But while many investors hunkered down as markets tanked, Buffett recalibrated, pouring billions into companies—Goldman Sachs, GE, BofA, Amex—that got federal bailouts and saw their stock prices soar. Buffett's conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway looks headed for a massive payday, reports the New York Times—enough to cement his reputation as the best investor of all time. More»

(NEWSER) - President Obama wants to put the so-called dark markets under control, the New York Times reports, seeking congressional approval to regulate the byzantine world of derivatives trading—which played a large role in the current financial mess. In a letter to lawmakers, Treasury chief Timothy Geithner calls for an oversight system to be run either by the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. More»