About Berkshire Hathaway

History of Berkshire Hathaway

The history of Berkshire Hathaway dates back to 1839, as Valley Falls Company.  In 1929, the Valley Falls Company merged with the Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company to form Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates.

In 1955, The Hathaway Company, a successful textile company that had started suffering a significant decline after World War I, took a historic turn and merged with Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates, another cotton milling company. The new company thrived for some time but by the 1950s the company had fallen on hard times. In 1962, Warren Buffett became involved with the company and eventually took control of Berkshire Hathaway. For some time the company stayed true to its core business but soon fell vulnerable to increasing foreign competition and discontinued its role in the textile business.

In the late 1960s, Buffett ventured into the insurance business and purchased two Nebraska companies, National Indemnity and National Fire and Marine Insurance. This first investment in the insurance industry gave rise to the super legend of today. In 1996, Buffett acquired GEICO General Insurance Company and the GEICO gecko soon became a national icon.

Today, Buffett's holdings include insurance and finance subsidiaries and a host of almost fifty businesses ranging from jewelry and furniture to manufactured homes.