Is Berkshire Hathaway really a Mutual Fund in disguise?
Berkshire is a holding company that owns many wholly owned subsidiaries, which operate in a variety of industries. Berkshire main business activities are in two insurance realms, property and casualty lines, and the reinsurance business. Berkshire Hathaway has many advantages a mutual fund does not have. One of these advantages, a major one, is that Berkshire can own businesses outright and thusly make the capital allocation decisions. An additional advantage to the shareholders of Berkshire is that they do not have to pay any of the expenses incurred when owning a mutual fund. Berkshire also enjoys the further advantage of not having to worry about being judged on it quarter to quarter performance like mutual funds, they are free to build the company for the long run and ignore Wall Street.
