Why Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B) Is Built to Last

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3. Other operating businesses
See’s Candies, RC Willey, The Pampered Chef, NetJets, Benjamin Moore, Fruit of the Loom, Business Wire, Brooks, Dairy Queen. These companies are familiar to people all over the country — and in some cases the world — because these Berkshire-owned business are among the best, if not the best, in their respective industries.

2. Shareholders
A major challenge for many publicly traded companies is trying to appease shareholders on a quarter-to-quarter basis on the basis of Wall Street analysts’ earnings estimates. Having shareholders who … um, freak out when you don’t meet quarterly estimates makes it much more difficult to keep a focus on the long term. While Berkshire has a very diversified shareholder base, many of its owners are fans of Buffett and have been listening to him extol the virtues of long-term investing for years, if not decades. In other words, it’s a very well-coached group of owners.

1. Built by Buffett and Munger
There will be a day when Buffett and his right-hand man, Charlie Munger, will no longer be running Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B). But this is a company that was built by those two. It’s a group of leaders — both at the top and within all of the individual subsidiaries — that these two have faith in. And its a company that’s imbued with closely held Buffett views like:

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

The article 11 Signs That Berkshire Is Built to Last originally appeared on Fool.com.

Matt Koppenheffer owns shares of Berkshire Hathaway and Bank of America. The Motley Fool recommends American Express, Berkshire Hathaway, Coca-Cola, and Wells Fargo and (NYSE:WFC) owns shares of Bank of America, Berkshire Hathaway, IBM, and Wells Fargo.

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