A holding company for a multitude of businesses run by Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett. Berkshire Hathaway is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska and began as just a group of textile milling plants, but when Buffett became the controlling shareholder in the mid 1960s he began a progressive strategy of diverting cash flows from the core business into other investments. Insurance subsidiaries tend to represent the largest pieces of Berkshire Hathaway, but the company manages hundreds of diverse businesses all over the world. Taobiz explains Berkshire Hathaway Because of Berkshire Hathaway's long history of operating success and keen stock market investments, the company has grown to be one of the largest in the world in terms of market capitalization. Berkshire stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange in two classes, A shares and B shares. The A shares are noted for their very high prices - in excess of $100,000 per share in 2007. Early in his career Buffett came across the novel idea to use the "float" from his insurance subsidiaries to invest elsewhere, mainly into focused stock picks that would be held for the long term. Buffett has long eschewed a diversified stock portfolio in favor of a handful of trusted investments that would be overweighted in order to leverage the anticipated return. Over time, his investing prowess became so noted that Berkshire's annual shareholder meetings became a mecca for value investing proponents and the focus of intense media scrutiny.
The buying power of a U.S. dollar in the city of New York. The New York dollar is calculated by subtracting the additional cost of living in New York, and then adding back the additional income residents tend to command as a result. once calculated, the remaining amount is a rough estimate of what your dollar is worth in this very expensive city. Living in New York is much more expensive than most other places in America. A dollar earned and spent in this city does not go as far, and once this is taken into account, you are left with the New York dollar. For example if you take $1 and subtract the additional cost of housing (15 cents), taxes (5.2 cents), basic costs (4.1 cents) and lifestyle (13.3 cents), and then add additional wages paid (16 cents), you are left with the buying power of a dollar in New York: 100 - 15 - 5.2 - 4.1 - 13.3 + 16 = 78.4 cents.
The strategy of manipulating a company's income statement to make poor results look even worse. The big bath is often implemented in a bad year to enhance artificially next year's earnings. The big rise in earnings might result in a larger bonus for executives. New CEOs sometimes use the big bath so they can blame the company's poor performance on the previous CEO and take credit for the next year's improvements. Taobiz explains Big Bath For example, if a CEO concludes that the minimum earnings targets can't be made in a given year, he/she will have an incentive to move earnings from the present to the future since the CEO's compensation doesn't change regardless if he/she misses the targets by a little or a lot. By shifting profits forward - by prepaying expenses, taking write-offs and/or delaying the realization of revenues - the CEO increases the chances of getting a large bonus the following year.
Forward-looking incremental costs that can be accounted for by a company. |||These are the changing costs that a company can somewhat foresee. For example, oil price increases, rent increases, and expansion and maintenance costs.
The day of deregulation for the securities market in London, England on October 27, 1986, in which the London Stock Exchange (LSE) became a private limited company. The event revitalized the LSE because outside corporations were allowed to enter its member firms and automated price quotation was established. Taobiz explains Big Bang Before Big Bang, the LSE was trailing the other major exchanges in the world. At the time, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) was listed as the No.1 market worldwide, determined by turnover rate. London was only able to turn over one-thirteenth of the volume transacted by the NYSE. The electronic trading system helped improve London's turnover because orders were now accepted by telephone and computer.
To reveal what is being planned or to share important information freely. Similar to ''open the books'' or an "open door policy," opening the kimono means revealing the inner workings of a project or company to an outside party. Also referred to as "open (up) one's kimono". The kimono is a Japanese traditional garment. There are conflicting entomologies for this phrase, but the one closest to its current business connotation is the idea Japanese loosening their kimonos to relax at home, much like loosening a tie. The term joined the business lexicon in the late 1980s during a period of increased global business interaction, most notably between western and Japanese businesses.
An interest rate at which banks can borrow funds, in marketable size, from other banks in the London interbank market. The LIBOR is fixed on a daily basis by the British Bankers' Association. The LIBOR is derived from a filtered average of the world's most creditworthy banks' interbank deposit rates for larger loans with maturities between overnight and one full year. |||The LIBOR is the world's most widely used benchmark for short-term interest rates. It's important because it is the rate at which the world's most preferred borrowers are able to borrow money. It is also the rate upon which rates for less preferred borrowers are based. For example, a multinational corporation with a very good credit rating may be able to borrow money for one year at LIBOR plus four or five points. Countries that rely on the LIBOR for a reference rate include the United States, Canada, Switzerland and the U.K.
An order/trade submitted for sale or purchase of a large quantity of securities. Also known as "Block Order". Taobiz explains Block Trade In general, 10,000 shares of stock (not including penny stocks) or $200,000 worth of bonds would be considered a block trade.