Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting
[p=30, 2, center][b][font=Arial][size=18pt][url=http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/category/berkshire-hathaway-shareholder-meeting/][color=black]Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting[/color][/url][color=#000000] [/color][/size][/font][/b][/p][p=30, 2, center][font=Arial][size=10.5pt]April 30-May 1, 2011[/size][/font][/p][p=30, 2, left][b][/b][b][font=Arial][size=24pt]Asian quake losses hit Berkshire profits[/size][/font][/b][/p][p=30, 2, left][font=Arial][size=8.5pt]Posted by [url=http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/author/colinbarr/][color=#004276]Colin Barr[/color][/url][/size][/font][/p][p=30, 2, left][font=Arial][size=8.5pt]April 30, 2011 10:47 am[/size][/font][/p][p=30, 2, left][font=Arial][size=9pt]
[/size][/font][/p][p=30, 2, left][color=#000000][b][font=Arial]Berkshire Hathaway's first-quarter profit tumbled 58% from a year ago, as the company took a $1.1 billion pretax hit on last month's earthquake in Japan.[/font][/b][font=Arial][size=10.5pt][/size][/font][/color][/p][p=30, 2, left][font=Arial][size=10.5pt][color=#000000]Berkshire[/color][/size][/font][font=Arial][size=10.5pt][color=#000000]'s ([/color][url=http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=BRKA][b][color=#004276]BRKA[/color][/b][/url][color=#000000]) net profit dropped to $1.5 billion from $3.6 billion a year ago, the company said Saturday at its annual shareholder meeting. CEO Warren Buffett said Berkshire took $1.7 billion in pretax losses in its big insurance business, as the company reserved for probable claims on quakes in Japan and New Zealand, the Australian floods and a big cyclone.[/color][/size][/font][/p][p=30, 2, left][font=Arial][size=10.5pt][b]
[/b][/size][/font][/p][p=30, 2, left][font=Arial][size=8.5pt]Not his favorite month[/size][/font][/p][p=30, 2, left][font=Arial][size=10.5pt][color=#000000]The losses dragged profits at Berkshire's insurance unit down almost 90% and put the company on track for its first underwriting loss in nine years, Buffett said. He estimated that the Asian catastrophes will cost the global reinsurance industry – the business of insuring insurers – some $50 billion.[/color][/size][/font][/p][p=30, 2, left][font=Arial][size=10.5pt][color=#000000]Using Buffett's preferred method of looking at quarterly numbers – the operating earnings that exclude investment gains and losses and changes in the value of derivatives trades – Berkshire's profits fell 27% from a year ago, to $1.6 billion.[/color][/size][/font][/p][p=30, 2, left][font=Arial][size=10.5pt][color=#000000]Buffett said most of Berkshire's businesses continued to improve in the quarter, notably the Burlington Northern railroad that the company purchased last year. Profits there surged 80%, to $908 million.[/color][/size][/font][/p][p=30, 2, left][font=Arial][size=10.5pt][color=#000000]But the company's residential housing related businesses continue to struggle and the insurance losses swamped the gains at the railroad and at its other units.[/color][/size][/font][/p][p=30, 2, left][font=Arial][size=10.5pt][color=#000000]Buffett told shareholders at the Qwest Center in Omaha that after a brief discussion of the earnings he will turn to the main event, a discussion of the recent resignation of David Sokol.[/color][/size][/font][/p]
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