Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B) Business Profile

What it does

Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company that owns subsidiaries in insurance, freight rail transportation, utility and energy generation and distribution, manufacturing, services and retailing. It is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.

Insurance is its principal activity. Its insurers sell property and casualty, life and health insurance directly to people and organizations, and they sell reinsurance to other insurers and reinsurers. In primary insurance, the insurer takes risk directly from the person or organization exposed to it. In reinsurance, it takes a defined portion of risk previously assumed by another insurer.

GEICO sells private-passenger automobile insurance to individuals, mainly through online and telephone applications. Its agency also offers third-party policies for coverages generally not sold by GEICO. The Berkshire Hathaway Primary Group sells commercial, workers’ compensation, property, liability, healthcare liability and specialty coverage. The Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group sells property, casualty, life and health reinsurance internationally.

Outside insurance, BNSF Railway transports consumer, industrial, agricultural, energy and coal products. Berkshire also operates aviation services, electronic-components distribution, quick-service restaurant franchising and servicing, media, logistics, manufacturing and retailing businesses. Its subsidiaries are run on a decentralized basis, with few centralized or integrated business functions. Berkshire and its operating subsidiaries employed 387,800 people worldwide at the end of 2025.

How it makes money

Berkshire earns insurance premiums in return for accepting policyholder risks. Underwriting profit is earned premiums less insurance losses and benefits, claim-adjustment expenses, policy-acquisition costs and other underwriting expenses. Berkshire seeks underwriting profit over time in most insurance categories, while retroactive reinsurance and periodic-payment annuity business can generate underwriting losses because expected future payments may exceed upfront premiums.

Insurance also provides funds for investment before claims are paid. Berkshire calls these net policyholder funds “float.” Its insurance subsidiaries invest float and shareholder capital in publicly traded equities, short-term investments and fixed-maturity securities. The equity portfolio is concentrated in relatively few companies, and Berkshire has historically held a larger equity proportion than is customary in insurance.

GEICO’s revenue depends on policies in force and premiums charged for auto coverage. Its underwriting costs include claims, claim-adjustment expenses, advertising and other policy-acquisition costs. BH Primary earns premiums across many commercial and specialty lines. BHRG’s volume depends on insurance-market pricing and terms, as well as the timing of large transactions; it writes treaty and facultative contracts, including quota-share and excess-of-loss arrangements.

BNSF earns freight revenue under contracts, published common-carrier prices and company quotations. Its volumes and rates vary with demand for the commodities it carries and competition from other transport modes. The utility, energy, manufacturing, service and retailing businesses add earnings from their respective operations.

Latest-year and latest-quarter totals are shown below.

Customers and how it sells

Berkshire serves a broad set of customers through separately managed subsidiaries. GEICO sells auto insurance to individuals throughout the United States and the District of Columbia. Customers can apply directly online or by telephone, while its agency places third-party coverage for needs such as homeowners, renters, condominium, life and identity-protection insurance.

BH Primary principally serves policyholders in the United States. Its customers include employers seeking workers’ compensation coverage, small and medium-sized businesses, commercial-insurance buyers, healthcare professionals and facilities, and customers needing specialty liability or property coverage. Its insurers distribute through agents, brokers, wholesale brokers, retail agents and managing general agents, alongside direct and internet-based channels.

BHRG serves insurers and reinsurers worldwide. It operates in multiple countries, and its life and health reinsurance business writes risks in Asia-Pacific, the United States and Western Europe. Berkshire’s non-U.S. insurance operations are conducted through subsidiaries in Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia and South Africa, among other locations.

BNSF serves customers across the Midwest, Pacific Northwest, Western, Southwestern and Southeastern United States, as well as certain ports. Its routes also reach parts of Canada and Mexico. It works with shortline railroads and has marketing agreements with other rail carriers. Other businesses serve aviation, electronic-components, restaurant, media and logistics customers.

Suppliers and costs

Berkshire’s costs differ substantially across its decentralized businesses. For property and casualty insurance, claims are the principal cost: premiums are received when policies are written, while covered losses may be paid far later. Claim estimates are inherently imprecise, especially for liabilities that can take decades to settle. Insurance costs also include claim adjustment, policy acquisition, advertising and other underwriting expenses.

BNSF’s cost base includes labor, fuel, litigation, environmental compliance and continuing capital investment to maintain and improve its rail network. Diesel fuel used by locomotives is a material operational input. BNSF also faces costs and potential liabilities tied to hazardous-material transportation and environmental requirements.

Berkshire and its subsidiaries employed 387,800 people worldwide at the end of 2025. The group’s decentralized structure means operating subsidiaries establish their own personnel policies and practices. BNSF and the utility and energy businesses require significant capital to build, operate and maintain long-lived systems, and debt is a component of their capital structures.

Competitive position

Berkshire’s insurers compete with domestic and foreign insurers, including licensed and unlicensed providers. Competition spans financial strength, reliability, ratings, underwriting consistency, service, ethics, price, capacity, policy terms and coverage conditions. Regulatory requirements vary by insurance product and jurisdiction, while insurance and reinsurance generally have few barriers to entry outside regulatory considerations.

GEICO competes for private-passenger auto customers with direct writers and agency-based insurers, including State Farm, Progressive, Allstate and USAA. Competition in this market tends to center on price and customer service. GEICO uses direct-response marketing and manages most claims with its own claims staff. Its name and trademarks are material assets protected through registrations.

BNSF competes with other railroads, motor carriers, river barges, ships and pipelines. Union Pacific Railroad Company is its primary rail competitor in the western United States. Rail competition can affect both freight rates and service levels.

Our reading: Berkshire’s insurance financial strength is a meaningful moat source because major insurance subsidiaries hold strong financial-condition and claims-paying ratings, while customers and counterparties compete on financial strength and stability. [item1]

Our reading: GEICO’s direct distribution and in-house claims model are meaningful advantages in an auto-insurance market where price and service are central competitive variables. [item1]

Our reading: BNSF’s network access to major cities, ports and smaller markets is a meaningful operational advantage, though other rail and freight modes compete in many lanes. [item1]

Growth opportunities

Berkshire’s growth avenues include writing insurance where pricing and terms are considered adequate, investing insurance float and shareholder capital, and expanding or improving operations across its non-insurance subsidiaries. Insurance premium volume can vary materially with market conditions, coverage terms and the timing of large reinsurance transactions.

GEICO grew written premiums in 2025 as policies in force increased. Its direct model supports distribution to customers who apply online or by telephone, while its agency provides access to third-party coverages. BH Primary offers multiple commercial and specialty lines through direct, agency, broker and managing-general-agent channels. BHRG writes a broad range of property, casualty, life and health risks for insurers and reinsurers across international markets.

BNSF’s growth is linked to the supply and demand for products from manufacturing, agricultural and natural-resource industries. Its rail system accesses cities, ports and smaller markets, including through shortline partnerships and marketing arrangements with other rail carriers. BNSF intends to continue improving fuel efficiency and increasing renewable-diesel use, while evaluating and field-testing battery-electric and hydrogen locomotives.

Berkshire’s other operating businesses cover manufacturing, service and retailing activities. Their earnings can change independently because they address different customer groups and industries. Berkshire’s capital-allocation decisions and investment activities are centrally directed, while daily operating management remains decentralized.

Structural risks

• Insurance catastrophe and reserve risk. Berkshire is willing to assume substantial underwriting risk and could incur a significant loss from a single natural disaster, terrorism event or cyber-attack. Insurance claim liabilities may take decades to settle, and estimates of unpaid losses can prove inadequate.

• Investment concentration and market-value risk. Berkshire concentrates a high percentage of insurance-subsidiary equity investments in relatively few issuers. A significant decline in larger holdings can reduce consolidated earnings, shareholders’ equity and insurance statutory surplus.

• Regulatory risk. Insurance rules can restrict the business written, rates charged, capital maintained, investments made and dividends paid to Berkshire. Railroad, utility and energy businesses also operate under extensive rate, safety, environmental, operating and capital rules.

• Technology, cyber and competitive risk. Berkshire relies on technology across its operations. A cyber intrusion or system disruption could interrupt service, impair safety, expose information or assets, create remediation costs and damage reputation. Technological change and competitive pressure may erode business franchises.

• Economic, geopolitical and supply-chain risk. Economic deterioration, inflation, trade policies, tariffs and geopolitical conflict can reduce sales, raise operating costs, disrupt supply chains and affect investments. Restricted or more costly access to debt markets could affect BNSF and utility and energy operations.

• Climate, environmental and wildfire risk. Severe weather can damage physical assets and increase insurance losses. Climate policies can raise compliance costs, while BNSF faces hazardous-material and environmental liabilities and regulated energy subsidiaries face wildfire-related losses and litigation.

Bottom line

Our reading

Our reading: Berkshire is a decentralized conglomerate whose insurance operations generate premiums and float for investment, alongside rail, utility, energy, manufacturing, service and retailing operations. [item1]

Our reading: Its operating diversity does not remove exposure to insurance catastrophes, concentrated equity holdings, regulation, technology disruption and macroeconomic conditions. [item1a]

Our reading: Financial strength, direct insurance distribution and BNSF’s network are important competitive supports, but each business faces active competition and different operating constraints. [item1]