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Berkshire Hathaway owns a huge collection of businesses — from insurance to railroads to ice cream shops — and uses the cash they generate to buy more businesses and stocks.
Berkshire Hathaway is really two things at once: a giant owner of whole businesses, and a giant investment portfolio. Its most important engine is insurance, which it sells through names like GEICO and General Re. Insurance brings in premiums from millions of customers, and the money that hasn't been paid out yet sits with Berkshire until claims come due. That pile of float — tens of billions of dollars — gets invested, which is one reason insurance is the beating heart of the company. Think of it as a store that gets paid upfront and doesn't have to deliver the goods for years, while it invests your money in the meantime.
Beyond insurance, Berkshire owns a sprawling mix of companies. BNSF is one of the biggest freight railroads in North America, moving coal, grain, and consumer goods. Berkshire Hathaway Energy runs utilities and power networks. Then there's a grab bag of manufacturing, retail, and service businesses — things like Precision Castparts (aircraft and industrial parts), Lubrizol (chemicals), and even Dairy Queen and See's Candies. On top of that, Berkshire holds a massive stock portfolio — Apple has been its biggest holding — plus stakes in companies like Coca-Cola and Bank of America. So roughly speaking, insurance is the cash engine, the railroad and energy businesses are huge revenue contributors, and the stock portfolio adds billions in value.
The company is run from Omaha, Nebraska, and for decades was led by Warren Buffett, with Greg Abel now taking over as CEO. Berkshire's style is famously patient: it generates piles of cash and mostly reinvests it — buying whole companies, adding to its stock holdings, and buying back its own shares when the price looks cheap. It rarely pays dividends. That simple formula — cheap cash from insurance plus disciplined buying — has turned it into one of the most valuable companies in the world, and it's a useful reminder that boring, steady compounding can beat flashy growth.
Saved answer · last researched 18 Oct 2026