Warren Buffett Investment Timeline

The following Warren Buffett Investment Timeline lists the key investments Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger made through Berkshire Hathaway since 1967.

1967 – Berkshire acquired National Indemnity Company.

1967 – Berkshire acquired National Fire and Marine Insurance Company.

1969 – Berkshire acquired Sun Newspapers.

1969 – Berkshire acquired Blacker Printing Company.

1969 – Berkshire acquired The Illinois National Bank & Trust Company.

1971 – Berkshire subsidiary National Indemnity Company acquired Home and Automobile Insurance Company (later renamed National Liability and Fire Insurance Company).

1976 – Berkshire sold Blacker Printing Company.

1976 – Berkshire subsidiary National Fire and Marine Insurance Company acquired Central Fire & Casualty Company.

1977 – Berkshire subsidiary National Fire and Marine Insurance Company acquired Cypress Insurance Company.

1978 – Berkshire merged with Diversified Retailing Company, in the process acquiring Associated Retail Stores, Columbia Insurance Company and Southern Casualty Insurance Company.

1980 – Berkshire divested its stake in The Illinois National Bank & Trust Company (holding company: Rockford Bancorp Inc) as required by the 1969 Bank Holding Company Act via a stock exchange.

1983 – Berkshire merged with Blue Chip Stamps, which a priori was a majority owned subsidiary of Berkshire.

As Blue Chip Stamps owned See’s Candies and the Buffalo Evening News, these two companies became part of Berkshire’s portfolio. Blue Chip Stamps also had a controlling interest in Wesco Financial Corporation.

1983 – Berkshire acquired Nebraska Furniture Mart.

1984 – Berkshire subsidiary National Indemnity Company merged with Texas United Insurance Company.

1984 – Berkshire subsidiary National Indemnity Company merged with Southern Casualty Insurance Company.

1986 – Berkshire acquired Scott Fetzer Company.

1986 – Berkshire acquired Fechheimer Brothers Company.

1989 – Berkshire acquired Borsheim’s Jewelry.

1991 – Berkshire acquired H. H. Brown.

1992 – Berkshire acquired Central States Indemnity Company of Omaha.

1993 – Berkshire acquired Dextor Shoe Company.

1995 – Berkshire acquired Helzberg’s Diamond Shops.

1995 – Berkshire acquired R. C. Willey Home Furnishings.

1996 – Berkshire acquired remaining stake in GEICO Corporation and turned GEICO into a 100% owned Berkshire subsidiary.

1996 – Berkshire acquired FlightSafety International.

1998 – Berkshire acquired Executive Jet (later renamed NetJets).

1998 – Berkshire acquired General Re.

2000 – Berkshire acquired MidAmerican Energy.

2000 – Berkshire acquired Ben Bridge Jeweler.

2001 – Berkshire acquired CORT Business Services.

2001 – Berkshire acquired Justin Industries.

2001 – Berkshire acquired Shaw Industries.

2001 – Berkshire acquired Benjamin Moore & Company.

2001 – Berkshire acquired Johns Manville.

2001 – Berkshire acquired MiTek in conjunction with MiTek management.

2001 – Berkshire acquired XTRA.

2002 – Berkshire acquired Larson-Juhl.

2002 – Berkshire acquired Fruit of the Loom.

2002 – Berkshire acquired Garan.

2002 – Berkshire acquired The Pampered Chef.

2003 – Berkshire acquired McLane Company.

2003 – Berkshire acquired Clayton Homes.

2005 – Berkshire acquired Medical Protective Company.

2005 – Berkshire acquired Forest River.

2005 – Berkshire subsidiary Shaw Industries acquired Honeywell International.

2006 – Berkshire acquired Business Wire.

2006 – Berkshire acquired Applied Underwriters.

2006 – Berkshire acquired Iscar Metalworking Companies.

2006 – Berkshire acquired Russell Corporation.

2006 – Berkshire acquired Southern Energy Homes.

2007 – Berkshire acquired Boat America Corporation.

2007 – Berkshire acquired TTI Inc.

2008 – Berkshire acquired Marmon Holdings.

2008 – Berkshire subsidiary Forest River acquired Coachmen Industries.

2009 – Berkshire subsidiary Shaw Industries acquired Sportexe.

2009 – Berkshire acquired Cavalier Homes.

2010 – Berkshire acquired remaining outstanding common stock of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (BNSF). As a result of this acquisition, Berkshire entered the S&P 500, replacing Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

2010 – Berkshire subsidiary McLane Company acquired Kahn Ventures.

2011 – Berkshire acquired Lubrizol.

As this Warren Buffett investment timeline reveals, Buffett has made a large variety of acquisitions in many different industries and lines of businesses. But the underlying thinking is the same: buying good businesses (high return on invested capital) when they are cheap / reasonably valued.

Leave a Reply