Berkshire hathaway stock class c

Berkshire hathaway stock class c

More than 20 years ago, Berkshire Hathaway was content with its highly valued, single class of stock. But the market was demanding a lower-priced, more common-stock nibble at the Berkshire pie, given that shares were trading for around $30,000 at that time. So in 1996, Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, and the board responded by issuing 517,500 shares of Class B shares, offering the ability to invest in the company for, initially, 1/30.The main reason for the introduction of Class B shares was to allow investors to be able to purchase the stock directly instead of buying a sliver of a share through unit trusts or mutual funds that mirror Berkshire Hathaway's holdings.

Hathaway

Along with being more accessible to retail investors, Class B shares offer the benefit of flexibility. If an investor owns just one share of Class A and is in need of some cash, the only option is to sell that single share, even if its price far exceeds the amount of money they need to access. In contrast, a holder of Class B shares can liquidate part of their Berkshire Hathaway holdings just up to the amount needed to meet cash flow requirements. Class B also provides a potential tax benefit: Its much lower price means that BRK-B stock can be passed to heirs without triggering the gift tax, as passing Class A shares does.

According to the Forbes Global 2000 list and formula, Berkshire Hathaway is the eighth-largest public company in the world, the tenth-largest conglomerate by revenue and the largest financial services company by revenue in the world."Pilgrimage to Omaha – My story of the Berkshire Hathaway AGM (Annual general meeting) of 2004 and meeting Warren Buffett". Peterwebb.co.uk. May 1, 2004. Archived from the original on March 1, 2012. Retrieved July 8, 2011. "Whitney Tilson's 2006 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting Notes" (PDF). Value Investor Insight. May 6, 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 5, 2011. Retrieved September 28, 2011. (Source: en.wikipedia.org)