Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A), Burlington Northern Santa Fe, LLC (NYSE:BNI), Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (NYSE:CP), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
With more than $100,000 of his sister’s money burning a hole in his billionaire pockets, Warren Buffett is trying to decide how to spend it, and enlisting more than 4,000 students to help him make the costly call. Warren and his older sister Doris launched a massive open online course Monday called Giving With Purpose, designed after a class being taught at more than 30 universities, including Northeastern. Through the course, students are allowed to dish out $10,000 after evaluating several nonprofits and learning about effective giving.
Warren Watch: Billionaire Koch brothers make deal-making pitch to rival Buffett’s (Omaha)
One of Warren Buffett’s pitches goes like this: If you’ve built up a great business and want to find a permanent, favorable home for it while you continue to be in charge, give Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) a call. “We can promise complete confidentiality and a very fast answer — customarily within five minutes — as to whether we’re interested,” Buffett promises each year in his annual letter to shareholders. Now another Midwestern conglomerate, led by a pair of billionaire brothers from Wichita, Kan., is making the same pitch: Koch Industries Inc., privately owned by Charles and David Koch and the subject of a recent Wall Street Journal article.
Buffett makes annual stock donations to charities (TwinCities)
Billionaire Warren Buffett is giving five charities more than $2.6 billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) stock as part of his overall plan to give away his fortune gradually. Buffett announced the annual gifts Monday. The biggest block of Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) stock worth $2 billion is going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Buffett also gave 1.75 million shares to his own foundation and 1.2 million shares to each of his three children’s foundations. The Class B shares were up 46 cents at $115.42 in midday trading Monday.
What Actors Can Learn From Warren Buffett (Backstage)
There’s a saying that “Life is life,” which essentially means everything is the same. There are universal principles to success. Unfortunately many actors forget that anything worth having usually takes a lot of time and effort including—and maybe especially—acting. Since I got an MBA long before I got into acting, many of my friends work in more traditional business areas like marketing and finance. Not surprisingly, to get a high profile job at one of the more prestigious investment firms requires doing all the right things in the right order.
A simulation tech company Warren Buffett should find exceptional (TheGlobeAndMail)
Computer Modelling Group Ltd., a 35-year-old Calgary-based firm, develops reservoir simulation technologies that are used by more than 500 oil, gas, and consulting companies across the world. It has a $900-million market cap. …Computer Modelling Group has increased earnings per share by $0.55 over the past decade while retaining $0.54 in earnings, making for a 101.6-per-cent return on retained earnings, which the Warren Buffett-based model considers exceptional. It has averaged a 35-per-cent return on equity over past decade, part of why the Buffett-based model has some interest in it. It also offers a 3-per-cent dividend yield, unusual for a firm in its industry, and has a strong 86 relative strength.
