Latest news with #MidAmericanEnergy
Axios
4 days ago
- Business
- Axios
Des Moines Pride experiences sponsorship pullback
Des Moines' Capital City Pride may lose up to $75,000 in corporate sponsorships this year — a sign of a broader national pullback during Pride Month, executive director Wes Mullins tells Axios. Why it matters: Some companies are scaling back on Pride Month sponsorships under pressure from political and cultural backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts. Local organizers have scrambled to fill the financial void to pull off this week's flagship Pride events. State of play: Capital City Pride filled the funding gap with new grants and record-breaking individual support from its March gala, Mullins said. He declined to identify corporate sponsors that have reduced or ended sponsorship. Between the lines: Several longtime sponsors — including Nationwide and MidAmerican Energy — are absent from this year's Capital City Pride list, per an Axios comparison of 2024 and 2025 public records. What they're saying: Nationwide declined to comment. MidAmerican Energy frequently alters its sponsorships among various organizations, and although it is not a sponsor of this year's Pride, a group of its employees will walk in the parade on its behalf, said spokesperson Geoff Greenwood. The other side: Mullins said he reminds sponsors that the LGBTQ+ community — and Capital City Pride — are worth every dollar. "I make the strong case that this is a good investment and there is no reason to fear the retribution that some worry about, but instead, more people will be proud to see your support," he said. Reality check: Many factors influence sponsorship decisions, and not being listed doesn't necessarily mean that a company no longer supports the event's mission, Mullins said. Coldwell Banker, for example, tells Axios that its 2024 sponsorship was associated with a DSM agent and office that is no longer part of the company. Yes, but: While Capital City Pride and its $600,000 event budget are not struggling this year, organizers are still seeking private donors, partly because they believe corporate donations may decline further in the coming years, Mullins said. Events like meet-and-greets with Bob the Drag Queen sold out weeks in advance. Vendor spots are nearly filled to capacity, and participation in the Pride Parade remains robust, he said. Zoom in: Teen and family programming has been expanded, and cast members from "Hamilton" will perform on the main stage as part of this week's celebrations.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Greg Abel Is Taking Over for Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway. Here's What You Need to Know.
Key Points The market took this news well, celebrating Berkshire Hathaway's update over the weekend. Warren Buffett had already appointed Abel to be the next CEO of Berkshire Hathaway back in 2021. Charlie Munger once offered his thoughts on how Berkshire Hathaway could look without Buffett. 10 stocks we like better than Berkshire Hathaway › Warren Buffett first shared that Greg Abel would take over as CEO in 2021, but no one was quite prepared to hear him officially pass the baton last weekend at the Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A)(NYSE: BRK.B) annual meeting. It's hard to imagine the company without the investing legend at its helm, but at 94 years old, Buffett is ready to hand over the reins. The board has approved Abel to take over as CEO by the end of the year. Abel is Buffett's right-hand man Abel has been a part of Berkshire Hathaway since it bought about 80% of MidAmerican Energy, where he was president, in 1999. Buffett first mentioned him by name in the 2002 annual shareholders' letter, calling him a "dealmaker" and a "manager" and saying he was a "huge asset for Berkshire Hathaway." He continued to call Abel and his business partner Dave Sokol "brilliant managers of the business," and year after year, he said they were "terrific managers" and that "Berkshire couldn't have better partners. " Image source: The Motley Fool. In 2014, the 50th anniversary of Buffett's tenure at Berkshire Hathaway, vice chairman and Buffett's partner Charlie Munger gave his thoughts about the company. One of the tasks he gave himself was to "predict whether abnormally good results would continue at Berkshire if Buffett were soon to depart." His short answer was "Yes," for a number of reasons: Under this Buffett-soon-leaves assumption, his successors would not be 'of only moderate ability.' For instance, Ajit Jain and Greg Abel are proven performers who would probably be under-described as 'world-class.' 'World-leading' would be the description I would choose. In some important ways, each is a better business executive than Buffett. Both Abel and Jain were elected as directors and vice chairmen at Berkshire in 2018, with Jain responsible for the insurance business and Abel responsible for the non-insurance businesses, or everything else. In 2021, Buffett made the announcement that Abel was next in line, and by 2023, he said that Abel "in all respects, is ready to be CEO of Berkshire tomorrow." Perhaps investors should have seen this move coming. In the 2024 annual shareholder letter, released in February, Buffett said: "At 94, it won't be long before Greg Abel replaces me as CEO and will be writing the annual letters."
The Age
05-05-2025
- Business
- The Age
Warren Buffett has left his successor with a $540 billion pile of cash and a big problem
Not surprisingly, for more than two years, instead of using the torrents of cash his group has generated to buy expensive companies or shares, Buffett has been building a stockpile of cash. Berkshire Hathaway now has a hoard of $US347.7 billion (about $540 billion). For Abel, how and when he deploys that cash will represent the major and reputation-defining challenge of his new role. Abel is an operational guy, brought into Berkshire Hathaway when it acquired a stake in MidAmerican Energy in 1999. He built the energy business into a key pillar of the group's operating assets and now runs all Berkshire Hathaway's non-insurance operations, a portfolio of more than 180 operating companies that generated $US47.4 billion of Berkshire Hathaway's $US89.7 billion of first-quarter revenues. He's a manager, not an investor. Todd Combs and Ted Weschler are the executives responsible for identifying investment targets. Once he replaces Buffett, however, it is Abel who will have to make the big calls. Buffett has been a contrarian investor, often sitting on the markets' sidelines for considerable periods while waiting for opportunities – the 'straw hats in winter' or counter-cyclical approach that hardcore value investors pursue. Loading 'We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful,' Buffett has said to explain his philosophy. In 2008, during the global financial crisis, that strategy was vindicated. Berkshire Hathaway stepped in during the worst of the crisis to buy cheap stakes in companies like Goldman Sachs, General Electric and Dow Chemical, driving very hard bargains in exchange for the calming influence its money and Buffett's reputation provided. Those sorts of opportunities don't, however, come that often. Since the crisis, Buffett has been relatively quiet. Berkshire Hathaway's level of out-performance of the market has shrunk and its store of undeployed cash has soared, signalling that Buffett believes there isn't value in the market for either companies or shares in the current environment. His major play in recent years, unusually for a group largely focused on the US, has been the $US23.5 billion the group has invested in five of Japan's biggest trading houses. Abel's challenge will be to find value and the moment to use that cash on deals that are large enough to move the dial in what is now a $US1.2 trillion conglomerate. If Donald Trump's trade policies – his tariffs – were to push the US economy into recession, which is possible, that moment might arise. There is a lot of leverage in the US system. During the near meltdown in the US bond market earlier this year after Trump made his 'Liberation Day' announcement of reciprocal tariffs, hedge funds were scrambling to exit leveraged trades and the market for leveraged loans froze. There are a lot of highly-leveraged hedge funds and private equity firms out there that would be stressed if economic conditions deteriorated markedly, or interest rates were to rise – or both, if Trump induces, as some fear, a stagflationary recession. 'We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.' Warren Buffett Buffett seems confident that those sorts of distressed asset sales will eventuate. 'We will be bombarded with offerings that we'll be glad we had the cash for,' he said at the weekend. That could release a lot of the kinds of hard assets that private equity targets and Buffett have always liked: companies with good management, strong franchises, protective 'moats' and solid cashflows and earnings. The big long-term holdings within Berkshire Hathaway's investment portfolio are companies like Amex, Coca-Cola, Bank of America and, while he was late to that party, Apple, but the core portfolio of operating companies is centred on insurance, utilities and energy, railroads, and a collection of manufacturers and retailers. Whether those sorts of companies that have generally performed well in the past 60 years will generate similar performance in the future is an open question. Artificial intelligence is expected to transform companies and industries in ways that are difficult to predict. Buffett's philosophy was to avoid companies and technologies he didn't understand, so he didn't invest in companies like Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and only started investing in Apple – the star of the portfolio – in early 2016, nine years after Steve Jobs launched the first iPhone and transformed a company now worth more than $US3 trillion. Abel will have to navigate the implications of AI for the post-Buffett investment environment if he is to continue Berkshire Hathaway's history of significant out-performance. Buffett could get away with a year or two of passivity or the odd poor investment; Abel won't be afforded that same level of shareholders' trust. There will be pressure on him to do something big with Berkshire Hathaway's cash – big enough to have an impact on the group's returns – and there won't be tolerance for any mistakes. In many respects, Buffett has handed his successor a poisoned chalice. No one could deliver the Buffett package of extraordinary returns wrapped around his unique style and charisma – a personality cult that developed over decades – in an investing environment so different, and vastly more competitive, than when Buffett was mopping up hard assets at discounts to their book values, let alone their market values. Abel may have to chart a new and different course for Berkshire Hathaway, as anyone who succeeded the man who created one of the world's biggest and most influential investment firms would have had to do. Loading Buffett, his decades of investment wisdom, and his ability to see value where no one else had are irreplaceable. There is now a significant question mark over the eventual fate of the sprawling investment conglomerate he created that Abel, even while the counsel of the 94-year-old Buffett is still available, will find it very difficult to dispel.
The Age
05-05-2025
- Business
- The Age
5,500,000% return: How Warren Buffett became a Wall Street legend
Not surprisingly, for more than two years, instead of using the torrents of cash his group has generated to buy expensive companies or shares Buffett has been building a stockpile of cash. Berkshire Hathaway now has a hoard of $US347.7 billion (about $540 billion). For Abel, how and when he deploys that cash will represent the major and reputation-defining challenge of his new role. Abel is an operational guy, brought into Berkshire Hathaway when it acquired a stake in MidAmerican Energy in 1999. He built the energy business into a key pillar of the group's operating assets and now runs all Berkshire Hathaway's non-insurance operations, a portfolio of more than 180 operating companies that generated $US47.4 billion of Berkshire Hathaway's $US89.7 billion of first-quarter revenues. He's a manager, not an investor, with Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, the executives responsible for identifying targets for investment. Once he replaces Buffett, however, it is Abel who will have to make the big calls. Buffett has been a contrarian investor, often sitting on the markets' sidelines for considerable periods while waiting for opportunities – the 'straw hats in winter,' or counter-cyclical, approach that hardcore value investors pursue. Loading 'We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful,' Buffett has said to explain his philosophy. In 2008, during the global financial crisis, that strategy was vindicated. Berkshire Hathaway stepped in during the worst of the crisis to buy cheap stakes in companies like Goldman Sachs, General Electric and Dow Chemical, driving very hard bargains in exchange for the calming influence its money and Buffett's reputation provided. Those sorts of opportunities don't, however, come that often. Since the crisis, Buffett has been relatively quiet, Berkshire Hathaway's level of out-performance of the market has shrunk and its store of undeployed cash has soared, signalling that Buffett believes there isn't value in the market for either companies or shares in the current environment. His major play in recent years, unusually for a group largely focused on the US, has been the $US23.5 billion the group has invested in five of Japan's biggest trading houses. Abel's challenge will be to find value and the moment to use that cash on deals that are large enough to move the dial in what is now a $US1.2 trillion conglomerate. If Donald Trump's trade policies – his tariffs – were to push the US economy into recession, which is possible, that moment might arise. There is a lot of leverage in the US system. During the near meltdown in the US bond market earlier this year after Trump made his 'Liberation Day' announcement of reciprocal tariffs, hedge funds were scrambling to exit leveraged trades and the market for leveraged loans froze. There are a lot of highly-leveraged hedge funds and private equity firms out there that would be stressed if economic conditions deteriorated markedly, or interest rates were to rise – or both, if Trump induces, as some fear, a stagflationary recession. 'We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.' Warren Buffett Buffett seems confident that those sorts of distressed asset sales will eventuate. 'We will be bombarded with offerings that we'll be glad we had the cash for,' he said at the weekend. That could release a lot of the kinds of hard assets that private equity targets and Buffett has always liked: companies with good management, strong franchises, protective 'moats' and solid cashflows and earnings. The big long-term holdings within Berkshire Hathaway's investment portfolio are companies like Amex, Coca-Cola, Bank of America and, while he was late to that party, Apple, but the core portfolio of operating companies is centred on insurance, utilities and energy, railroads, and a collection of manufacturers and retailers. Whether those sorts of companies that have generally performed well in the past 60 years will generate similar performance in future is an open question. Artificial intelligence is expected to transform companies and industries in ways that are difficult to predict. Buffett's philosophy was to avoid companies and technologies he didn't understand, so he didn't invest in companies like Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and only started investing in Apple – the star of the portfolio – in early 2016, nine years after Steve Jobs launched the first iPhone and transformed a company now worth more than $US3 trillion. Abel will have to navigate the implications of AI for the post-Buffett investment environment if he is to continue Berkshire Hathaway's history of significant out-performance. Buffett could get away with a year or two of passivity or the odd poor investment; Abel won't be afforded that same level of shareholders' trust. There will be pressure on him to do something big with Berkshire Hathaway's cash – big enough to have an impact on the group's returns – and there won't be tolerance for any mistakes when he does. In many respects, Buffett has handed his successor a poisoned chalice. No-one could deliver the Buffett package of extraordinary returns wrapped around his unique style and charisma – a personality cult that developed over decades – in an investing environment so different, and vastly more competitive, than when Buffett was mopping up hard assets at discounts to their book values, let alone their market values. Abel may have to chart a new and different course for Berkshire Hathaway, as anyone who succeeded the man who created one of the world's biggest and most influential investment firms would have had to do. Loading Buffett, his decades of investment wisdom and his ability to see value where no-one else had, is, however, irreplaceable. There is now a significant question mark over the eventual fate of the sprawling investment conglomerate he created that Abel, even while the counsel of the 94-year-old Buffett is still available, will find it very difficult to dispel.
Sydney Morning Herald
05-05-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
5,500,000% return: How Warren Buffett became a Wall Street legend
Not surprisingly, for more than two years, instead of using the torrents of cash his group has generated to buy expensive companies or shares Buffett has been building a stockpile of cash. Berkshire Hathaway now has a hoard of $US347.7 billion (about $540 billion). For Abel, how and when he deploys that cash will represent the major and reputation-defining challenge of his new role. Abel is an operational guy, brought into Berkshire Hathaway when it acquired a stake in MidAmerican Energy in 1999. He built the energy business into a key pillar of the group's operating assets and now runs all Berkshire Hathaway's non-insurance operations, a portfolio of more than 180 operating companies that generated $US47.4 billion of Berkshire Hathaway's $US89.7 billion of first-quarter revenues. He's a manager, not an investor, with Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, the executives responsible for identifying targets for investment. Once he replaces Buffett, however, it is Abel who will have to make the big calls. Buffett has been a contrarian investor, often sitting on the markets' sidelines for considerable periods while waiting for opportunities – the 'straw hats in winter,' or counter-cyclical, approach that hardcore value investors pursue. Loading 'We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful,' Buffett has said to explain his philosophy. In 2008, during the global financial crisis, that strategy was vindicated. Berkshire Hathaway stepped in during the worst of the crisis to buy cheap stakes in companies like Goldman Sachs, General Electric and Dow Chemical, driving very hard bargains in exchange for the calming influence its money and Buffett's reputation provided. Those sorts of opportunities don't, however, come that often. Since the crisis, Buffett has been relatively quiet, Berkshire Hathaway's level of out-performance of the market has shrunk and its store of undeployed cash has soared, signalling that Buffett believes there isn't value in the market for either companies or shares in the current environment. His major play in recent years, unusually for a group largely focused on the US, has been the $US23.5 billion the group has invested in five of Japan's biggest trading houses. Abel's challenge will be to find value and the moment to use that cash on deals that are large enough to move the dial in what is now a $US1.2 trillion conglomerate. If Donald Trump's trade policies – his tariffs – were to push the US economy into recession, which is possible, that moment might arise. There is a lot of leverage in the US system. During the near meltdown in the US bond market earlier this year after Trump made his 'Liberation Day' announcement of reciprocal tariffs, hedge funds were scrambling to exit leveraged trades and the market for leveraged loans froze. There are a lot of highly-leveraged hedge funds and private equity firms out there that would be stressed if economic conditions deteriorated markedly, or interest rates were to rise – or both, if Trump induces, as some fear, a stagflationary recession. 'We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.' Warren Buffett Buffett seems confident that those sorts of distressed asset sales will eventuate. 'We will be bombarded with offerings that we'll be glad we had the cash for,' he said at the weekend. That could release a lot of the kinds of hard assets that private equity targets and Buffett has always liked: companies with good management, strong franchises, protective 'moats' and solid cashflows and earnings. The big long-term holdings within Berkshire Hathaway's investment portfolio are companies like Amex, Coca-Cola, Bank of America and, while he was late to that party, Apple, but the core portfolio of operating companies is centred on insurance, utilities and energy, railroads, and a collection of manufacturers and retailers. Whether those sorts of companies that have generally performed well in the past 60 years will generate similar performance in future is an open question. Artificial intelligence is expected to transform companies and industries in ways that are difficult to predict. Buffett's philosophy was to avoid companies and technologies he didn't understand, so he didn't invest in companies like Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and only started investing in Apple – the star of the portfolio – in early 2016, nine years after Steve Jobs launched the first iPhone and transformed a company now worth more than $US3 trillion. Abel will have to navigate the implications of AI for the post-Buffett investment environment if he is to continue Berkshire Hathaway's history of significant out-performance. Buffett could get away with a year or two of passivity or the odd poor investment; Abel won't be afforded that same level of shareholders' trust. There will be pressure on him to do something big with Berkshire Hathaway's cash – big enough to have an impact on the group's returns – and there won't be tolerance for any mistakes when he does. In many respects, Buffett has handed his successor a poisoned chalice. No-one could deliver the Buffett package of extraordinary returns wrapped around his unique style and charisma – a personality cult that developed over decades – in an investing environment so different, and vastly more competitive, than when Buffett was mopping up hard assets at discounts to their book values, let alone their market values. Abel may have to chart a new and different course for Berkshire Hathaway, as anyone who succeeded the man who created one of the world's biggest and most influential investment firms would have had to do. Loading Buffett, his decades of investment wisdom and his ability to see value where no-one else had, is, however, irreplaceable. There is now a significant question mark over the eventual fate of the sprawling investment conglomerate he created that Abel, even while the counsel of the 94-year-old Buffett is still available, will find it very difficult to dispel.
