Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett/2015 Golden Anniversary Edition

Back in 1965, Warren Buffett gained financial control of Berkshire Hathaway, a textile mill business in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The business was cheap -- and it became cheaper-- finally failing altogether in 1985. In its early days, Berkshire also launched into two other failing operations -- a retailing business called Hothschild Kohn in Baltimore and a trading stamp business called Blue Chip Stamps in California. So in its early going, Berkshire was running not one, not two, but three doomed enterprises. Still, from those ashes, Buffett and Charles Munger moved the money elsewhere, basically into stocks and insurance firms. Today -- 50 years later -- Berkshire has dramatically transformed into one of the most powerful and prestigious companies in the world, an enterprise which includes ownership of billions in stocks and bonds, dozens of operating companies, including a large railroad, a large energy company and a huge insurance empire. Berkshire is now worth more than $300 billion in stock market value, surpassing GE, Johnson & Johnson and Walmart; trailing only the likes of Apple, Google, and Microsoft. This book is an attempt to trace how Berkshire rose to be one of the premier businesses in size and reputation. It's a look at the events, the investments, and mainly the people who forged Berkshire's revered position in the world.