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Twenty of the largest listed companies in the world are sitting on a combined cashpile of $570bn, demonstrating how some of the world’s biggest groups retain substantial firepower in the current downturn. However, only 29 of the top 100 global companies by market value have net cash, according to analysis by the Financial Times. But those that do should be in a strong position in a severe downturn that is causing companies to scramble to conserve cash. The list is led by four financial institutions with Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway at the top with $106bn in net cash, defined as...

When Nicole was 4, her singer-songwriter mother married Warren Buffett's youngest child, Peter, a composer for commercials and films. He later adopted Nicole and her identical twin sister, who were embraced as kin by the larger Buffett family — especially Susan, Warren's first wife, an avid music lover and cabaret performer. "A lot of people don't realize that my family is full of artists," says Nicole. (Susan Buffett, who died in 2004, was an early buyer of Nicole's art and named Nicole one of "my adored grandchildren" in her will.) As a child, Nicole made regular visits to "Grandpa's" modest...

I can understand why Warren Buffett wanted to teach Nicole Buffett, who gets by on $40,000 a year she earns as an artist and reportedly goes without health insurance, that she should not act like a spoiled brat. But the punishment did not fit the crime. The letter he wrote Nicole seems especially cold: "I have not emotionally or legally adopted you as a grandchild, nor have the rest of my family adopted you as a niece or a cousin," the magazine quotes the letter as saying. "He signed the letter 'Warren'."

December 09, 2008 Categories: Barack Obama Blago wanted to shake down Warren Buffett Blagojevich and his inner circle were expansive in pondering just how they could leverage the Senate appointment for financial gain, and at one point the governor floated the notion that legendary financier and Obama supporter Warren Buffett could somehow be brought into the deal. In a November 11th conversation with John Harris, his Chief of Staff, Blagojevich said he could start a 501(c)(4) political organization to extract money from the billionaire Sage of Omaha, whom the governor called Obama’s “friend.” “What, for you?” Harris replied. “Yeah,” said...

In the midst of economic chaos, Warren Buffett recently made a bold prediction. He said that now is the time to buy American stocks. Of course, this call seems utterly insane. Banks are failing, the credit markets are deadlocked, unemployment is skyrocketing, and there's likely to be terrible news for months. On the other hand, this is Warren Buffett, and he's made these sorts of predictions before. 1974: Stagflation The years 1973 and 1974 were two very bad ones for the market. OPEC had started flexing its muscles, causing oil to quadruple. This resulted in a long recession, with inflation...

....and environmental leaders from northwest California went to Omaha to ask Buffett to tear down......buffett gives Billions to the Gates foundation.....

Why do all these billionaires (Buffett, Paulson, Soros) support Obama? Or CheBama versus the ChicagoBoyz

Well it's a done deal. Barack is not a socialist because he thinks Warren Buffet would be a good policy wonk on his cabinet. And some have said, even McCain thinks Warren Buffet would be a good policy wonk. Senator McCain, two things, open ANWR and in the words of P Diddy; "Come on man", McCain, Warren Buffett as Secretary of the Treasury? Hell no. Warren Buffett, is the guy who invested millions in PetroChina ( Darfur, Darfur, Darfur) when currency traders were hedging against the dollar in 2002, which led to the dollars' devalue and the rise in oil...

Billionaire Warren Buffett, calling turmoil in the markets an "economic Pearl Harbor," said his $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs Group is an endorsement of the Treasury's $700 billion bank rescue plan. "I am betting on the Congress doing the right thing for the American public and passing this bill," Buffett said on cable channel CNBC Wednesday. "I certainly have a vote of confidence in Goldman and vote of confidence in Congress." Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke are pushing Congress to quickly approve the proposal to remove illiquid assets from the banking system. Buffett is...

He said he would involve former Vice President Al Gore in efforts to address the issue. "I would tap him, I would tap people who have been involved in these issues for many years." McCain noted that he disagreed with the Nobel Peace Prize winner about nuclear energy but added, "I have great respect for Al Gore."

(Fortune) -- Warren Buffett suggested Thursday that the U.S. Treasury team with private investors to buy the distressed mortgage assets at the center of the controversial $700 billion Wall Street bailout, and said the price tag of the rescue plan may have to rise. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5p5XsZLxAo

Warren E. Buffett is emerging as the banker of choice to the embattled blue-chip companies of American business. Mr. Buffett, the billionaire investor, announced on Wednesday that he would invest $3 billion in General Electric, the industrial giant that is also the nation’s largest nonbank financial company. The move comes eight days after he said he would invest $5 billion in Goldman Sachs.

Buffett, Mr. "Call Option on the Bailout" says Paulson has "done a great job. The next President should ask him to stay on"

Back in July, when he declared his long-term portfolio was 100% in cash backed by T-bills, a lot of people said Todd Harrison was crazy -- or clueless.But Harrison, CEO of Minyanville.com, is looking pretty smart these days given the ongoing turmoil in the financial markets. Just because Warren Buffett is putting money to work doesn't mean the average investor should -- unless you can get the same favorable terms "the Oracle" has gotten from recent investments in GE and Goldman Sachs.In addition, the dollar has been on the rise lately and hit a 13-month high vs. the euro Thursday...

FAIRFIELD, Conn. — Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is buying $3 billion worth of General Electric preferred shares, even as the diversified conglomerate is preparing to sell at least $12 billion worth of common stock to the public. GE says Berkshire Hathaway will buy $3 billion of perpetual preferred stock in a private offering. Such stock carries a dividend of 10 percent and is callable, at a 10 percent premium, after three years. Berkshire also received warrants to buy $3 billion worth of common shares at $22.25 each over five years. GE says that the Berkshire funds will boost its capital...

Warren Buffett Obama is frequently on the phone with billionaire CEO Warren Buffett: "One of my favorite people," says Obama, "he's just completely down-to-earth and as smart as they come." Buffett is a critic of the financial industry and of tax breaks for the rich - and he also happens to understand capital markets better than just about anyone. Austan Goolsbee, Economist, University of Chicago "A University of Chicago economist who rejects supply-side tax theory, Goolsbee has been Obama's go-to guy on economics from the beginning - and is behind proposals to raise taxes on business and investment. He would...

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Warren Buffett, one of the world's best known and wealthiest investors, is betting $5 billion that the U.S. financial system is not about to collapse. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKA) said Tuesday it will invest at least $5 billion in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS).... In addition to buying $5 billion in preferred stock, Berkshire also got warrants to buy another $5 billion in Goldman's common stock. Goldman also said late Tuesday it would raise another $2.5 billion in its own public stock offering.

Berkshire Hathaway, the company owned by US investment guru Warren Buffett, has bought $5bn (£2.7bn) worth of Goldman Sachs shares. Mr Buffett, the world's most famous investor, said Goldman was an "exceptional institution".

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) (BRKb.N) will invest $5 billion in Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), in a major boost for the Wall Street bank from perhaps the world's best-known investor. "It's a vote of confidence which is gold plated," said Michael Holland, a money manager at Holland & Co in New York. "You don't get better than this." Shares of Goldman rose 6.5 percent following the announcement, while Standard & Poor's 500 futures gained 16 points.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) on Tuesday said it will receive a $5 billion investment from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) (BRKb.N), a vote of confidence for the Wall Street bank from perhaps the world's best-known investor. Berkshire will buy $5 billion of perpetual preferred stock that carries a 10 percent dividend. It also will receive warrants to buy $5 billion of common stock at $115 per share, exercisable within five years. Goldman also said it plans to sell at least $2.5 billion of common stock. It announced the offerings after earlier this week announcing...

The US government has a group of 200 people to JUST look over Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac called OFHE and another agency group to look over them too! What Warren thinks... "...two of the biggest accounting disasters in the past ten years: Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. We're talking billions and billions of dollars of misstatements at both places." ...As a dramatic illustration, take two of the biggest accounting disasters in the past ten years: Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. We're talking billions and billions of dollars of misstatements at both places. Now, these are two incredibly important institutions. I mean,...

Barack Obama called a summit of his senior economic advisers to help craft his response to the Wall Street financial crisis on Friday, as sparring intensified over which presidential candidate was best qualified to handle the turmoil. Mr Obama has assembled a stellar team of economists and financial leaders to advise him on the crisis, including Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor, Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, and a trio of former Treasury secretaries. Several of them met Mr Obama for talks in Florida on Friday, with others joining by telephone as the Illinois senator sought to convince...

As a long time market follower I am observing what is happening in the market with interest (and agony!). I have watched other downturns (2001, 1998, 1987) and read about others (1929). We all know that market panics are part factual and part psychological. In other panic periods, CNBC and other press outlets would roll out industry leaders such as Warren Buffett to calm the public. Where is the leadership today? Sure we have problems but remember the root of the problem – mortgages. Even if we recognize that banks made stupid loans, deadbeats took on mortgages that they had...

Wall Street crisis: Is this the death knell for derivatives? On page 62 of last year's accounts, under the heading "off balance sheet arrangements" Lehman had derivative contracts with a face value of $738bn Nils Pratley guardian.co.uk, Monday September 15 2008 09:18 BST If this is the death of Wall Street as we know it, the tombstone will read: killed by complexity. Derivatives in their baffling modern forms – collateralised debt obligations, credit default swaps and so on – lie at the heart of the failure of Lehman, Bear Stearns, Fannie and Freddie, and even our own Northern Rock. The...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Warren Buffett, the billionaire co-founder of a top private equity firm and a prominent voice for U.S. fiscal responsibility, called on the United States and its elected officials to combat the nation's fast-growing, multi-trillion dollar debt load. < > It also argues, and panelists agreed, that the United States has become too dependent on foreign investors to buy its goods and its publicly-issued debt. < > Buffett, the world's richest person according to Forbes magazine, added: "It has not paid to sell America short since 1776, and the time to start is not in 2008." <...

Billionaire investor and Barack Obama supporter Warren Buffett on June 25 turned on the Democratic presidential candidate over a proposed windfall profits tax on oil companies. Buffett also criticized Obama’s decision to reject public financing for his campaign. “I think it is very hard to have windfall taxes,” Buffett told CNBC’s Becky Quick on “Power Lunch” from New York City.. “Steel has doubled in price. Is that a windfall for the steel producers? Sure. Corn is $7 a bushel; soybeans are at $15 a bushel. I don’t think any candidate in his right mind with the number of electoral votes...

Warren Buffet, the investor known as the sage of Omaha, is this week expected to privately step into the $46bn hostile bid by Belgian brewer Inbev for Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser beer. Buffett, who owns 5 per cent of Anheuser through his group Berkshire Hathaway, is planning to speak to August Busch IV, the Anheuser chief executive, within the next few days to discuss the hostile bid, according to sources close to the deal. Buffett wants to remain neutral in the early days of the controversial offer, but it is understood Busch wants to know his opinion of the...

BERLIN (Reuters) - The United States is already in a recession and it will be longer as well as deeper than many people expect, U.S. investor Warren Buffett said in an interview published in German magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday. more stories like this He said the United States was "already in recession" and added: "Perhaps not in the sense that economists would define it" with two consecutive quarters of negative growth. "But the people are already feeling the effects," said Buffett, the world's richest man. "It will be deeper and last longer than many think." But he said that...

BERLIN (Reuters) - The United States is already in a recession and it will be longer as well as deeper than many people expect, U.S. investor Warren Buffett said in an interview published in German magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday. He said the United States was "already in recession" and added: "Perhaps not in the sense that economists would define it" with two consecutive quarters of negative growth. "But the people are already feeling the effects," said Buffett, the world's richest man. "It will be deeper and last longer than many think." But he said that won't stop him from...

The global credit crunch has eased for bankers, says Warren Buffett. “The worst of the crisis on Wall Street is over,” Buffett said. “In terms of people with individual mortgages, there’s a lot of pain left to come...

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s first-quarter net income dropped 64% as underwriting income wilted and the giant conglomerate reported $1.7 billion in unrealized derivatives losses. Last quarter, Chairman Warren Buffett told investors that "the party is over," saying he expects insurance earnings to fall off significantly in 2008. Though Berkshire owns businesses ranging from See's Candy to Benjamin Moore paint, its various insurance companies still generate the bulk of Berkshire's results. Mr. Buffett's sprawling conglomerate posted net income of $940 million, or $607 per Class A share, compared with $2.21 billion, or $1,682 a share a year earlier. Excluding investments derivatives, which...

…I don’t know how much ethanol contributed to it, but, you know, you get twelve dollar soybeans and six dollar corn and that sort of thing, and it’s going to have an effect. I’m amazed we haven’t seen more inflationary effect so far with the CPI, when you consider what steel is doing, what oil is doing, what grains are doing, there is a lot of potential inflation down the road...

CHICAGO (AP) — Snickers and M&Ms candy maker Mars Inc. is buying Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., which makes Juicy Fruit and Doublemint gum and Life Savers, for about $23 billion in cash.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Warren Buffett, the world's richest person, said on Monday the U.S. economy is in a recession that will be more severe than most people expect. Buffett made his comments on CNBC television after his Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) (BRKb.N) agreed to invest $6.5 billion in the takeover of chewing gum maker Wm Wrigley Jr Co (WWY.N) by Mars Inc in a $23 billion transaction. "This is not a field of specialty for me, but my general feeling is that the recession will be longer and deeper than most people think," Buffett said. "This will not be...

Want to invest in a green industry that employs the latest technology, reduces U.S. oil consumption and is priced very attractively? Look no further than the railroads. Laggards for decades after the 19th-century boom ended, they're hot again. "There was steady traffic growth until last year, and the trend looks good once the economy gets back up to speed," says Kenneth Kremar, an economist who follows the railroad industry for consulting firm Global Insight. Perhaps that's why railroad stocks have largely escaped the battering that other sectors have taken so far this year. Of course, their business could still be...

For the demographic reality is that, in America, the Democratic party is the new “party of the rich”. More and more Democrats represent areas with a high concentration of wealthy households. ... Democrats now control the majority of the nation’s wealthiest congressional jurisdictions. More than half of the wealthiest households are concentrated in the 18 states where Democrats control both Senate seats. I have speculated before that this seemingly counter-intuitive reality may reflect the hyper-wealth of modern America - these voters may be so rich they simply aren’t sensitive to tax increases anymore. Whatever the reason is, ideologically they are...

Excerpt - NEW YORK (AFP) — US financier Warren Buffett has overtaken Bill Gates as the world's richest man, according to Forbes annual billionaire's list, which this year saw Russia, China and India making increasing inroads. Buffett, the 77-year-old chief of the Berkshire Hathaway holding company, saw his wealth jump from 52 billion dollars last year to 62 billion, pushing Microsoft co-founder Gates into third position after 13 years at the top. Mexico's telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helu grabbed second place with a tidy nest egg of 60 billion dollars, up from 49 billion last year. ~ snip ~

Warren Buffett withdraws bond re-insurance plan Reuters Monday, March 3, 2008 NEW YORK: Warren Buffett said Monday that he was no longer offering to guarantee $800 million of municipal bonds backed by the monoline bond insurers MBIA, Ambac Financial Group and FGIC. On Feb 12, Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, offered to reinsure the bonds, but only at a steep premium. The offer excluded risky debt, including securities tied to subprime mortgages, which have caused billions of dollars of losses for bond insurers, leading them to seek new sources of capital or possible break-ups. Speaking on CNBC television, Buffett...

Without a doubt, we are in an uncertain period for the financial markets. During uncertain periods in the past, you could shelter yourself from all of the bad news. But that’s just not possible in this modern era with 24 hour business news channels, financial talk radio (I am admittedly part of this noise with The Money Guy Show), daily and weekly financial newspapers and magazines, etc. It should also be noted that even though reading, listening, and watching financial media can be entertaining, it can also be outright harmful to your long-term financial success. Indeed, it has become much...

Buffett defends sovereign wealth funds By Francesco Guerrera and Justin Baer in New York Published: February 29 2008 23:10 | Last updated: March 1 2008 01:15 Warren Buffett has hit out at rising US opposition to investments by sovereign wealth funds, saying their recent buying spree was a function of misguided trade policies and not “some nefarious plot by foreign governments”. In his closely-watched annual letter to shareholders, the 77-year-old billionaire investor revealed he had chosen four unnamed candidates to replace him as chief investment officer of Berkshire Hathaway, his conglomerate, when he dies or steps down. Berkshire has a...

Investor Warren Buffett offers 800 bln dlr backup to troubled bond insurers Tue Feb 12, 11:03 AM ET Billionaire investor Warren Buffett on Tuesday said he offered to reinsure 800 billion dollars in municipal bonds backed by three insurers hard hit by the US mortgage and credit crunch. Buffett discussed his offer to bond insurers Ambac Financial Group, MBIA Inc. and Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. during a telephone interview with the CNBC business television network. Buffett said he had sent that offer to the three bond insurers last week, and that he was giving them 30 days to find a...

If you want investment advice or a hot stock tip, Warren Buffett may be your man. He's certainly made himself and many other Berkshire Hathaway stockholders rich. When it comes to politics or government fiscal policy, however, Buffett has become just another tax-happy liberal. He's even campaigning and raising money for Democrats. Buffett, the second-richest man in America, is too good at math not to understand the statistical con game he's playing when he pretends that the rich aren't paying their fair share of the tax burden. His latest gimmick is to claim that he and other high rollers in...

Warren Buffett is renting out his gold-plated name to cash-strapped cities across America so they can now borrow under his protec tive wing - and, of course, pay him dearly for the lifeline. As the financial serv ices industry remained mired in turmoil over its own shaky credit woes, Buffett yesterday launched a new insurance company to help municipalities find insurance for backing up their bonds - of which they sell hundreds of billions to investors to finance operations. Many major bond insurers that traditionally dominated the $2.5 trillion municipal borrowing world are on the ropes, wracked by their own...

When Warren Buffett so much as scratches his nose, the investment world sits up and takes notice. So the Buffettologists will be all over the latest acquisition by the world’s smartest investor. While his rivals were still digesting their sprouts, Mr Buffett announced on the evening of Christmas Day that Berkshire Hathaway was paying $4.5 billion (£2.25 billion) for majority control of Marmon Holdings, an industrial conglomerate owned by the Pritzker family of Chicago. Outside his insurance company investments, this is Mr Buffett’s biggest deal yet. Given Berkshire’s investment preferences, there were few surprises in the deal. Marmon’s products are...

Berkshire to Pay $4.5B for Marmon Stake CHICAGO (AP) — Warren Buffett's investment company announced Tuesday it will pay $4.5 billion for 60 percent of Marmon Holdings Inc., a private company of more than 125 manufacturing and service businesses. Berkshire Hathaway Inc., based in Omaha, Neb., said it plans to acquire the remaining 40 percent of Marmon over the next five to six years depending on future earnings of Marmon, according to a statement released Tuesday by both companies. Marmon is owned by trusts for the benefits of the Pritzker family of Chicago, the family that developed the Hyatt Hotel...

- US billionaire investor Warren Buffet is reportedly paying 4.5 billion dollars for a majority stake in Marmon Holdings Inc., an industrial conglomerate owned by one of America's richest families. Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is acquiring 60 percent of the industrial firm from Chicago's Pritzker family, which has owned Marmon for more than 50 years, The Wall Street Journal reported online.Marmon, whose businesses range from plumbing products to electrical wire and cable, boasts seven billion dollars in annual revenue and more than 125 operating units, the daily said. Its biggest unit is the railroad tank car maker Union Tank Car.Berkshire...

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett put on his presidential fundraiser's hat Tuesday, helping Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton raise more than $1 million and warning those who paid as much as $2,300 to hear him that the growing gap between America's rich and poor must be addressed. "It's been a marvelous, marvelous time for these super-rich," Buffett, the nation's most famous investor, told more than 1,500 people jammed into a San Francisco hotel banquet room. But, turning serious, the "Oracle of Omaha" condemned the income disparity between the nation's wealthiest and average Americans, saying it is aided by an unfair tax...

"Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., right, is introduced by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, left, before her talk with billionaire investor Warren Buffett, at a campaign stop in San Francisco, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007.""Billionaire investor Warren Buffett takes part in a fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., in San Francisco, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007. Buffett, who has said he would be happy with either Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama as the next president, already helped Clinton raise at least $1 million during a June event in New York. "

Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday made a strong case for keeping the inheritance tax in place, saying it is a key to ensuring the United States remains a meritocracy. At a joint appearance with billionaire investor Warren Buffet, Clinton said the inheritance tax, due to be temporarily repealed in 2010, was a symbol of "what kind of society we are." "The estate tax has been historically part of our very fundamental belief that we should have a meritocracy, that we do not want a system _ where we expect people to make it on their own _ to be, over...

Death and Whoopi's Taxes December 10, 2007; Page A18 We don't normally look to Tinsel Town liberals for insights on U.S. tax policy, but Whoopi Goldberg's comments on the estate tax last week deserve more attention. During a discussion of Republican Presidential candidates on ABC's "The View," which the comedian co-hosts, Ms. Goldberg said, "I'd like somebody to get rid of the death tax. That's what I want. I don't want to get taxed just because I died." The studio audience started applauding, but she wasn't done. "I just don't think it's right," she continued. "If I give something to...