Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A), American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), General Motors Company (NYSE:GM), Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB), BP plc (NYSE:BP)
Peter Eastwood, the chief executive officer of American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG)’s Americas property/casualty operation, has left the insurer with three other managers. John Doyle, head of American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG)’s global commercial business, will assume Eastwood’s responsibilities until a permanent replacement is named, said Matt Gallagher, a spokesman for New York-based American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG). Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) hired Eastwood and three other executives, Insurance Insider reported. The departures add to vacancies that Peter Hancock, CEO of American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG)’s property-casualty unit, needs to fill as he seeks to scale back from some capital-intensive lines of coverage and target increased sales of consumer insurance. Jeffrey Hayman, who led global consumer coverage at AIG’s property-casualty unit, left in January for Starr International Co.
5 Stocks Better Than Berkshire Hathaway (Fool)
Without a doubt, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) stands alone as the most successful financial holding company in history. Thanks largely to the leadership of Warren Buffett, Berkshire’s per-share book value grew by an astounding average of 19.7% annually from 1965 through 2012 — good for an unbelievable total gain of nearly 587,000%. …Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Despite Apple’s relentless chorus of skeptics, it’s hard to ignore the fact this tech titan currently trades for a mouth-watering 9.3 times trailing earnings and just 8.3 times next year’s estimates. When you subtract the nearly $145 billion (yes, with a “b”) in cash on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s balance sheet, which is nearly 38% of Apple’s entire market cap, its trailing price to earnings ratio drops to a ridiculous 5.8.
What Apple Can Learn From Warren Buffett (HuffingtonPost)
Give credit to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and its chief executive officer, Tim Cook, for getting serious about returning unneeded capital to shareholders. As for the details, some of them don’t seem well thought out. The maker of iPhones and iPads this week said its board approved a sixfold increase in its stock-repurchase plan to $60 billion. Not long ago, even discussing the idea of large share buybacks was a nonstarter for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). Now that its stock has tanked, the company is acting like they are a must-do, no matter what else the future might bring. At about $408 a share, down 42 percent since its record high in September, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has a stock-market value of $383 billion.
Chinese Car Maker’s Favorite Passenger: Uncle Sam (WSJ)
A Chinese car maker is setting up shop in the U.S., with small ambitions but a clear goal: Get the federal government to subsidize the sales of the company’s American-made electric buses. BYD Co., an electric-car and battery maker that counts Warren Buffett among its investors, will open an electric-bus assembly facility in Lancaster, Calif., on Wednesday. The company’s U.S. expansion won’t create many jobs yet. The new plant will employ a few dozen people at the outset, according to Stella Li, BYD senior vice president. “We are starting small,” she said. But the benefits of BYD’s move will be…
BYD Plans to Manufacture Its Electric Buses in California to expand in the US (InAutoNews)
BYD, the Chinese car maker partially owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A), will open on May 1st, its plant in Lancaster, California, where it will assemble electric buses, according to Marketing Director Sherry Li. BYD’s electric bus, dubbed K9, is 12-meter (39-foot) long and can reach 155 miles (249 kilometers) on a single charge. The automaker hopes that this move will improve its image in the world’s largest economy, where BYD has seen three years of declines. BYD relies on public transportation to increase its EV business, focusing mainly on China. Last year the automaker had 200 K9s and 800 e6 electric taxis on the roads of Shenzhen. Currently the K9 and e6 models are in trial operations in Baoji, Shaoguan, Xi’an and Changsha, part of the company’s target to spread the vehicles nationwide.
Berkshire’s Weschler, Combs pay tribute to ‘terrific town’ (Omaha)
Todd Combs could do his job from almost anywhere. Hired in 2010 as an investment manager to back up Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A), Combs brought his wife, April, to Omaha to see whether they should move from Connecticut. They made the move. Buffett said Omaha made a good impression on April. “When she saw it, she felt good about it, and she feels even better about it now.” Moving to Omaha brought “a very distinct improvement in the whole family’s life,” he said. For Combs, being in Omaha full time and working just down the hallway from Buffett gave him a chance to “learn by osmosis.” His thinking and reading time has zoomed. “Omaha is a perfect place to be able to do that. You can work in absolute isolation.”
ECB, Fed, Facebook, Buffett, Derby: Week Ahead April 29-May 4 (BusinessWeek)
The European Central Bank is likely to cut its benchmark rate in the coming week to keep the recovery it forecasts for later this year on track. The U.S. Federal Reserve will probably vote to continue its record bond- buying program. U.S. employment is likely to have jumped in April as companies looked beyond the impact of government budget cuts. Warren Buffett will answer questions from his shareholders at the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) in Omaha, Nebraska. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), General Motors Company (NYSE:GM), Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB), BP plc (NYSE:BP) and Softbank Corp. will be among companies releasing results. At Churchill Downs, the 139th Kentucky Derby will be run, and racehorse Verrazano is the early favorite.
Warren Buffett’s faith in Israeli economy wins praise (Omaha)
Warren Buffett’s investment in an Israeli company helped make him one of 100 people having the most positive influence on Jews in 2013, according to Algemeiner, a Jewish-focused newspaper in New York City. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) paid $4 billion for Iscar Metalworking Co. of Israel in 2010, a commercial endorsement of a country that depends heavily on foreign investment, said Dovid Efune, editor in chief of the 40-year-old newspaper. “The Israeli economy is very important to Jewish well-being,” he said. “Having somebody like Warren Buffett making that sort of statement of faith in the Israeli economy is incredibly valuable. He’s a leader. Others follow.”
