Month: February 2019

Berkshire Hathaway’s Insurance Group Launching THREE Insurance Product

Post author By David Mazor
Post date February 12, 2019

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

Berkshire Hathaway’s Insurance Group announces the launch of THREE, its three-page, game-changing, comprehensive insurance product for small business. Businesses typically need several types of insurance to protect their interests, but until now they could only get that protection by buying multiple, unconnected and overly complex policies–each of which can be over fifty pages in length.

In three straightforward, plain English pages, THREE provides insurance coverage for workers compensation, multiple liability coverages (including general liability, errors and omissions, and cyber), property and auto – all the insurance most any small business could need. Replacing the usual chores of time-consuming, multiple applications and coordination,

THREE delivers one fully comprehensive (and comprehensible) small business policy, in a fast, easy one-stop shopping experience. Efficiency is increased further by providing THREE direct to small businesses, without the need to go through a broker or third party.

Minimizing the risk of not knowing what is being covered, and which policy might apply, makes THREE the right policy for risk averse risk takers.

Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett said, “Insurance is important protection for any business, but few small businesses have the time to actually read through the policy forms that are supposed to protect them. With THREE a small business can be confident in the protection it is getting, because the whole policy can be read in a few moments. Every day, America’s small businesses prove that great things come in small packages. Now they can get insurance on the same basis.”

THREE will be rolled out across the country as quickly as state regulatory filings and approvals can be obtained, but all are now welcome to preview THREE at “threeinsure.com”.

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Tags Insurance

Kraft Heinz

Kraft Heinz Looks to Expand India Sales With New Indo Nissin Foods Partnership

Post author By David Mazor
Post date February 11, 2019

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

Just weeks since selling its Indian brands – Complan, Glucon-D, Nycil, and Sampriti – to Zydus Wellness, Kraft Heinz has entered a distribution partnership with Japanese food giant Indo Nissin Foods.

The company is best known as the manufacturer of Cup Noodles and Top Ramen instant noodles.

The partnership will include multiple channels such as retail, modern trade, government channels and e-commerce distribution avenues, ensuring consumers have seamless access to Heinz Tomato Ketchup, said Heinz.

The partnership will also aim to open up new markets and introduce additional Kraft Heinz products into the Indian market.

Sankalp Potbhare, MD of Kraft Heinz India, said: “We are looking to aggressively grow in India with the support of Indo Nissin Foods’ distribution channels.”

Tags Kraft Heinz

Business Wire

Business Wire Announces Expansion Of Its Paris Office

Post author By David Mazor
Post date February 8, 2019

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

Berkshire Hathaway’s Business Wire, the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure, has announced that its Paris office has moved and is expanding.

Business Wire France was launched in October 2005 and is now relocating Place de la Madeleine in Paris with the ambition to add new staff and increase its market share in France and Southern Europe.

For Patrice le Tulle, Business Wire Regional Director France & Southern Europe, “moving in this new space in the heart of Paris gets us closer to our historical clients and for our clients abroad, the address reflects our international dimension. Besides, we will be able to organize workshops and seminars around PR, IR and other topics linked to our industry because we now have the capacity to host these types of events”.

Business Wire Paris office has its own newsroom with a team of professional editors. With 19 newsrooms and over 200 editors worldwide, Business Wire is the only newswire service to offer such a proximity relationship with its clients. Building local presence is key to Business Wire to better understand the communications needs of companies and industries in their local markets.

French companies will continue to benefit from the large distribution networks Business Wire provides as well as local assistance, two fundamentals of Business Wire to better serve its clients. From press releases distribution with photos and videos, disclosure, online newsrooms, interactive media, content marketing platforms to analytics and social media monitoring, Business Wire has a wide range of services to suits all communications needs.

“We are extremely proud to see our Paris office expands”, explains Geff Scott, Business Wire’s CEO. “After ten years of growth, this office has the ambition to further develop the Business Wire group’s clients base in Italy, Spain and Portugal, countries where the newswire culture is still not widespread. For PR and IR professionals, this announcement is a sign of the vitality of Business Wire and its industry.”

Tags Business Wire

GEICO Insurance

GEICO Adding Employees in Buffalo

Post author By David Mazor
Post date February 7, 2019

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

The GEICO regional office in Buffalo, New York, is hiring.

Even in a tight labor market, GEICO’s Buffalo office has grown from 500 to more than 3,000 associates since first opening its doors in 2004. This immense growth led to the opening of a second building in 2017. To better serve GEICO’s growing customer base in New England, GEICO is seeking to add an estimated 200 more associates this year.

“The tremendous pool of talent in Western New York has helped this office prosper over the years,” Regional Vice President Jeremy Connor said. “We are excited to extend an invitation to others to join our GEICO family and help us continue to offer the top-notch customer experience that GEICO is known for.”

Tags GEICO

Berkshire Hathaway Energy

Berkshire Hathaway’s Utilities Saved $26.63 Million in Q4 2018 Thanks to EIM

Post author By David Mazor
Post date February 6, 2019

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

Two of Berkshire Hathaway’s utilities, PacifiCorp and NV Energy, saved a combined $26.63 million so far this year through the western Energy Imbalance Market (EIM).

The California Independent System Operator (ISO) has released its western Energy Imbalance Market (EIM) 2018 first-quarter benefits report that shows total savings have reached $330.52 million since the market’s launch in November 2014.

The benefits for October, November and December reached $62.57 million for the eight participating members, and the gross benefits for Berkshire’s NV Energy was $4.95 million and PacifiCorp was $$21.68 million.

The western EIM platform automatically finds and delivers low-cost energy to serve consumers in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Optimizing diverse resources from a large geographic area enables more effective use of carbon-free generation besides reducing costs.

The Western EIM continued in the fourth quarter to help displace less clean energy supplies by using 23,425 megawatt-hours of surplus renewable energy that otherwise would have been curtailed.

Since the end of 2014, the effective use of carbon free generation from the market has amounted to reducing a gross of 324,284 metric tons of CO2, which is the equivalent of removing the emissions of 68,179 passenger cars driven for one year.

Looking forward, the market will continue to grow with the planned addition of six entities.

The Balancing Authority of Northern California/Sacramento Municipal Utility District is set to begin participation in April 2019. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Salt River Project, and Seattle City Light will follow in April 2020. The Public Service Company of New Mexico and NorthWestern Energy will participate in the market starting April 2021.

Tags Berkshire Hathaway Energy

Mouser Electronics

Mouser Electronics Inks Distribution Agreement with Monnit Corp.

Post author By David Mazor
Post date February 5, 2019

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

Berkshire Hathaway’s Mouser Electronics, Inc. has announced a global distribution agreement with Monnit Corp.

Mouser now stocks Monnit’s wireless sensors, gateways and Internet of Things (IoT).

“We are dedicated to enhancing product availability and support for our customers around the globe,” said Nick Mecham, VP of Business Development at Monnit. “Mouser has 23 locations around the world to provide best-in-class customer service. They ship to over 600,000 customers in 220 countries. We welcome them aboard.”

Monnit® ALTA® wireless sensors are an ecosystem of more than 60 sensor types that detect changes in a wide range of variables such as temperature, water presence, door position or electrical current. Monnit’s ALTA series devices offer an exceptional range of over 1,200 feet (non-line-of-sight) through more than 12 walls, plus Monnit Encrypt-RF® integrated security and onboard data memory. Extremely power efficient, ALTA sensors last over 12 years on 2 AA batteries.

Monnit Ethernet and cellular gateways allow Monnit wireless sensors to communicate with the iMonnit® cloud. The globally supported devices use an internet or cellular connection to connect with Monnit’s online servers, making deployment possible with or without an existing internet connection. Graphical iMonnit software streamlines network configuration, data viewing and alert configuration (SMS text, email or voice). iMonnit is available online or via free app.

Monnit Internet of Things Starter Kits feature enterprise-grade hardware and software to address the need for reliable IoT solutions. IoT Starter Kits include everything needed to begin monitoring for a variety of applications including facilities, agricultural areas, corporate properties, commercial refrigeration, HVAC systems and server rooms.

Tags Mouser Electronics

Nebraska Furniture Mart

Hawksearch Powers Nebraska Furniture Mart’s Online Ecommerce

Post author By David Mazor
Post date February 4, 2019

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

Berkshire Hathaway’s furniture retail chain Nebraska Furniture Mart (NFM) is using Hawksearch, a site search platform that utilizes advanced machine learning and pattern analysis to deliver the best search experience for website visitors.

NFM needed a search and merchandising engine that could support their online ecommerce growth.

Choosing the platform-agnostic Hawksearch tool, the new NFM website includes:

• A powerful search tool that customizes the site search experience
• Large number of filters available for NFM’s wide assortment of products
• Ability to support region based pricing and availability for their stores
• Ability to build and merchandise product landing pages
• Specific SEO requirements in terms of filters and landing pages so they have the ability to rank their landing pages for long tail searches
• Ability to build dynamic widgets that are capable of returning:
o Top Brands
o Top Products
o Top Categories
• Sync functionality that allows merchandisers to preview and test their changes before publishing them to production
• Ability to leverage the search tool in each store on tablets that NFM sales representatives use

NFM utilizes Hawksearch in very unique ways. The entire content on their site, from the homepage to the product detail page, is driven using Hawksearch Merchandising features. Hawksearch allows NFM to tailor the content displayed on the website, depending on the region and other factors about their users. The new site has an extremely clean filter design and includes an intuitive website experience that allows visitors to easily find the products they’re interested in.

Hawksearch CTO Shreyas Kamath said, “We’re proud to provide the powerful Hawksearch tool to Nebraska Furniture Mart. We’re continuously looking to further streamline the site search experience for our customers in order to increase their conversions and sales, allowing for a truly remarkable and productive user experience.”

NFM is one of the largest home furnishing stores in North America selling furniture, flooring, appliances and electronics. They were founded in 1937 in Omaha, Nebraska and acquired by Berkshire Hathaway in 1983. Nebraska Furniture Mart has locations in Omaha, Kansas City, Des Moines, and Dallas.

Tags Nebraska Furniture Mart

Kraft Heinz

Kraft Heinz Sells Off Indian Brands

Post author By David Mazor
Post date February 1, 2019

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

The Kraft Heinz Company completed the sale of Indian brands Complan, Glucon-D, Nycil and Sampriti to Zydus Wellness Limited and its affiliates.

“The sale of this niche business fits into our overall global growth strategy and our focus on investing in and growing brands within our core categories, and where we see a clear path to sustainable competitive advantage,” said Bernardo Hees, Chief Executive Officer of Kraft Heinz.

Under the terms of the agreement, Kraft Heinz sold to Zydus Wellness Limited and an affiliate 100% of its equity shares in Heinz India Private Limited, which is comprised of Complan, Glucon-D, Nycil and Sampriti brands, and two manufacturing facilities, with approximately 760 employees associated with these brands and operations.

Tags Kraft Heinz