Which investment company has Warren Buffett as its longtime chairman and is traded under the symbol BRK?

Berkshire Hathaway is the investment company led for decades by Warren Buffett and traded under the symbol BRK.

Berkshire Hathaway began as a group of textile manufacturing businesses, including Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates and Hathaway Manufacturing Company. Warren Buffett acquired a controlling interest in the struggling textile company in the 1960s and gradually transformed it into a diversified holding company.

Its businesses and investments have included insurance, railroads, utilities, manufacturing, retail, and large public-company stakes. Berkshire’s insurance operations, especially GEICO and General Re, have supplied capital for many of its investments.

The company has two widely watched share classes: Class A shares, traded as BRK.A, and Class B shares, traded as BRK.B. Berkshire is often compared with private-equity firms, but it differs through its publicly traded structure and permanent ownership of operating businesses.