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You can buy Berkshire Hathaway real estate services, with its trademark. Their logo appears on signs outside private homes for sale all over the place.

http://www.berkshirehathawayhs.com/

They also own 100% of a heck of a lot of subsidiaries. They're not just minority owners in a bunch of companies like Coca-Cola.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_Berksh...

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Sure, the point is what is their core business. E.g. Sony core business is electronics, despite having financial, entertainment, and other branches. Same thing for SoftBank: yes, it is a holding, but its main business is telecommunications.

Berkshire's core business is insurance.

Specifically the two ends of the market; direct-to-consumer insurance (GEICO) and insuring things no-one else can, particularly reinsurance and muni debt (Berkshire Hathaway Assurance, Gen Re).

If you're good at writing insurance it's essentially a great way of getting interest-free loans which they then spin into a huge pile of low-risk, cash-generating businesses (e.g. Duracell, Fruit of the Loom, See's Candies, to pick three Berkshire brands...).

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