Berkshire Hathaway, Inc was a small textile company. The company's president and CEO is Warren Buffett, the third richest man in the world. He invested his partnership in Berkshire Hathaway at a price of $8.6 million (The Essential Buffett, p27). It took him more than 35 years to increase book value from $19 per share to $37,987 per share at a compound rate of 24% per year (The Essential Buffett, p44). Buffett began buying other businesses, which were primarily insurance companies, with the profits from the decline of the original textile business. In 1985, the original textile business was closed and Berkshire Hathaway started the insurance business. Today, Berkshire Hathaway is primarily an insurance company, holding 73 businesses. According to Robert G. Hagstrom, the company has an investment portfolio consisting of a newspaper, a candy company, an ice cream/burger chain, several furniture stores, a carpet manufacturer, a paint company, a building products company, a company that private jets fly to timeshare companies, a jewelry store, an encyclopedia publisher, a vacuum cleaner company, a public utility, a couple of shoe companies, and a company which produces and distributes uniforms. Over 217,000 employees work for 73 companies with annual revenue of $98.539 billion in 2006 (Yahoo Finance, 2007). However, only 19 employees work in the home office located in Omaha. One of the companies held by Berkshire Hathaway is GIECO (Public Employees Insurance Company). In 1994 GIECO was wholly owned by Berkshire Hathaway. Its market share increased from 2.7% to 4.1% with an additional $590 million in cash from operating profits, despite the decline in... middle of paper......n offsetting the yield negative of 2002. The next three returns for Berkshire Hathaway investors are 4.33%, 0.82% and 24.11%. You can realize these returns in Exhibit 9. Berkshire Hathaway is a company made up of numerous investors and managers who contribute to its success. Berkshire's chairman and CEO is Warren Buffett, the man most famous for the company's success. Charlie Munger is next on the list as Vice Chairman of Berkshire. Charlie is a good friend of Warren and is considered the one who will teach Warren how to invest in quality companies, not just undervalued ones. Bill Gates is also one of the directors of Berkshire, he is the chairman of the board of directors of Microsoft Co. These are just a couple of the people who help Berkshire run effectively and efficiently. The master list of Berkshire Hathaway's key executives is available in the exhibit 10.