The Berkshire Beat: August 29, 2025
All of the latest Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway news!
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Markel Group and CEO Tom Gayner are no strangers to the Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett comparisons. I mean, you can’t blame people for noticing how Markel — with its insurance base, portfolio of common stocks, and wholly-owned operating businesses — closely resembles the Buffett-built conglomerate in structure.
And, even though Berkshire no longer owns any Markel stock, I always enjoy hearing from Gayner. This week, he joined the At Barron’s podcast — and did not hide his deep admiration for the Berkshire model. “We’ve certainly studied the playbook and example of what Buffett built at Berkshire for many, many years,” he said.
But, asked host Andy Serwer, can Berkshire ever truly be emulated? Isn’t that a tad bit unrealistic? “In terms of achieving what they have achieved,” said Gayner, “that is a different issue than emulating how they behave and how they do things.”
In short, the process can be emulated — even if Berkshire’s once-in-a-lifetime results should probably not be expected.
“For instance,” continued Gayner, “as a kid, I grew up in the era when John Wooden was the coach at UCLA and was winning national championship after national championship after national championship. If I was lucky enough to be a basketball coach, I would read everything that Wooden ever wrote and I would study his videos and I would observe how he managed to coach that team.”
“Am I going to win [10] national championships? The answer is probably no. But, in terms of the techniques and how you build a team and how you go about things, I think he’s an eminently worthy character to study … I’d rather learn from someone who’s better than I’ll ever be than from somebody who’s not.”
With Berkshire still (by far) the largest holding in Markel’s stock portfolio, Serwer asked if Gayner had any concerns about the conglomerate’s future in light of Buffett’s upcoming retirement. “There’s lots going on at Berkshire these days,” he admitted, “but I’m comfortable that that is a supremely well-run long-term business and has a great future in front of it.”
To underscore the enduring potential of a well-structured enterprise — even after the departure of its visionary figurehead — Gayner cited two historical examples:
I grew up in the Delaware Valley and the DuPont Company was sort of the towering colossus of that area when I was a kid. Now, the DuPont Company is a different thing today than what it was when I was a kid — there have been some split-offs and some reorganization. But I also went to the University of Virginia and there are records of dinners out at Monticello in Charlottesville between Thomas Jefferson and Mr. E.I. du Pont himself.
So, for two-hundred-and-some years, that was a company that made good decisions and was run by various people named DuPont and also people not named DuPont. I would guess if you had to make a list out of memory of people who were successful CEOs of the DuPont Company, you couldn’t do it.
Most people know that John D. Rockefeller started [Standard Oil ➡️ Exxon Mobil], but I would guess that most people can’t name more than 3-4 people who have been the CEO of that company for the [past] 150 years since John D. Rockefeller was no longer there. But, yet, it has managed to be a successful business.
For Gayner, a big part of Buffett’s brilliance lies not just in his past achievements — but in how he meticulously crafted and prepared Berkshire to thrive without him.
“Buffett deserves every bit of credit and acclaim for what he has done,” said Gayner, “but also part of what he designed and part of what he was doing all the way along was to design Berkshire in such a way that it would be able to persist beyond his personal tenure there. And that’s what we’re seeing now.”
And, now, on to the latest news and notes out of Omaha…
Shortly after pressing send on last week’s newsletter, BNSF Railway and CSX unveiled a new intermodal service that promises seamless coast-to-coast connectivity — without the complexities and cost of a merger. This strategic alliance aims to harness the benefits of a unified rail network — streamlined operations, broader market reach, and enhanced efficiency — while stiff-arming the industry-wide belief that BNSF and CSX must merge in response to the Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern tie-up. The new partnership offers: (1) direct intermodal services between Southern California and eastern stops in Charlotte and Jacksonville; (2) a targeted service between Phoenix and Atlanta designed to recapture business from over-the-road trucking competitors; and (3) new direct intermodal services between the Port of New York and New Jersey and Norfolk and Kansas City.
Then, earlier this week, Becky Quick scored another big scoop on these BNSF plans from Warren Buffett himself. She spoke to the Oracle by phone and then hopped on CNBC to relay his clear message: “Berkshire Hathaway is not in the market to buy a train company right now.” Buffett told her that he and Greg Abel met with CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs in Omaha on August 3. “They talked through all of it,” she said, “and Buffett and Abel made clear at that point that they were not going to be making a bid for CSX. But they really thought there was a lot that they could do to cooperate and work together and come up with those same synergies that there would be if the two companies were combined.”
Buffett also emphasized that BNSF still has “unlimited resources to invest in anything that makes sense”. Which suggests that CSX’s then-current valuation, inflated by speculation of an imminent BNSF offer, did not make sense.
“This [new agreement] is really a way to get freight across the country for their customers,” said Quick, “without having any of the slowdowns or shutdowns or needing to take 2-3 days to transfer over to another train line.”
And, for anyone still holding out hope that BNSF might throw its hat in the ring for Norfolk Southern, Quick poured cold water all over that idea. Berkshire is not going to bid on any train company at the present time.
Berkshire recently increased its stakes in two of Japan’s major trading houses, Mitsubishi and Mitsui. Buffett and co. raised the Mitsubishi holding from 9.74% to 10.23%, while a Mitsui official confirmed to Reuters that Berkshire boosted its stake in that conglomerate by an undisclosed percentage. (Remember: Buffett announced in his latest annual letter that the sogo shosha “agreed to moderately relax” the 10% limit that had previously been in place.) No word yet on the other three trading houses.
Chevron shale president Bruce Niemeyer walked Fortune through his company’s shift in Permian Basin strategy from maximum output to maximum cash flow. “There’s been a period of time in shale and tight in this industry where a lot of attention was on growth,” he said, “as much growth that you could have. The pivot for us is from growth, which is where the attention was for the last few years, to one of cash flow generation. We are adjusting activity to manage it on a plateau and focus on becoming extremely efficient in what we do. Given the portfolio we have, we’ll be able to do that out to the end of the next decade.”
Fortune estimates that Chevron’s shale spending could be cut by $1.5 billion annually while keeping production levels largely steady. The oiler has already scaled back active drilling rigs in the Permian from 13 to 9 — with further reductions expected. “Up to this point,” said Niemeyer, “there’s been a lot of brute force. Where we’re headed next is we’re going to get more out of [each] well.”
According to Sky News, Coca-Cola is exploring the sale of British coffee chain Costa. The beverage giant acquired Costa six years ago for £3.9 billion to diversify beyond sugary soft drinks — but sales have stagnated and Coke could end up exiting for as little as £2 billion. Non-binding indicative offers are expected in early autumn. “The business is still a good business,” CEO James Quincey said on a recent earnings call, “but it hasn’t quite delivered on the different verticals of growth that we were hoping to accelerate much quicker — the ready-to-drink coffee and the at-home.”
And a few odds and ends to finish off the week…
This week, Berkshire collected $33.7 million in quarterly dividends from Sirius XM and (somewhat less impressively) $173,423 from Jefferies Financial Group.
AM Best reaffirmed superior financial strength and long-term credit ratings for United States Liability Insurance Company. The Berkshire-owned insurer earned praise for the strength of its balance sheet, strong operating performance, and conservative reserve positions. Of particular note, USLI’s underwriting income in 2024 was the highest in the last ten years.
Jazwares agreed to end its lawsuit against Build-A-Bear Workshop, in which it alleged that the rival toymaker’s Skoosherz were nothing more than knockoffs of its uber-popular Squishmallows line. Both parties requested the dismissal of the lawsuit with prejudice — ensuring that it cannot be refiled — which effectively ends this legal battle. Presumably, some type of settlement was reached.
Last, but certainly not least, Warren Buffett turns 95 years young tomorrow. Hopefully, he celebrates the occasion with a day full of bridge and Blizzards.