Warren Buffett makes investors happy – SPIEGEL ONLINE

Warren Buffett and his investment company Berkshire Hathaway earned more in the first quarter than in the same period last year. The preliminary figures show that there were also some downside to cope.

The surplus rose in the reporting period by eight percent to $ 5.59 billion, the company said in Omaha in Nebraska at the meeting with. This was ensured mainly a capital gain from the exchange of shares of the consumer goods group Procter & amp; Gamble for the Duracell battery business.

ailing insurance

The operating profit but fell by twelve percent to 3.73 billion dollars. The reason was, among other things, the ailing insurance business, an important pillar of Berkshire Hathaway.

In addition, the railway division had “significantly” reduced and remains probably the rest of the year injured, Buffett conceded. A knack with other companies and holdings Financial Betting worried but nevertheless for significantly improved profits in the first quarter. In the past year, the stock of Berkshire Hathaway performed even worse than the overall market.

The 85-year-old star investor stands for 51 years at the helm of Berkshire Hathaway. The Group is active in addition to the insurance and railway industry, inter alia in the energy, food, clothing and real estate industry. More than $ 100 billion is invested in shares, among others, American Express, Coca-Cola and IBM.

The number of the Berkshire empire belonging companies transform the event hall in a shopping temple where comes from boxer shorts to gold jewelry all Unters shareholder people. The very rich Buffett, whose fortune the “Forbes” magazine estimated recently to 68.5 billion dollars accumulated with populist appearances as the traditional newspaper Wide Throw favorites and answers questions of his followers.

In the foreground of the visitors known as “Woodstock of capitalism” AGM are anyway less numbers than to the star cult around the 85-year-old Buffett. Tens of thousands of shareholders from around the world flocked once again in the US state of Nebraska to celebrate their idol and spend a weekend in the nearby can. The meeting is a hustle and bustle, which has evolved over the years into a major spectacle.