Category: Insurance

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GEICO

North Texas Becomes Key Hub for GEICO’s Expanding Business

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GEICO, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, announced the creation of 500 new jobs in North Texas as part of its expanding commercial insurance business. During a ceremony marking the occasion, the company revealed that 300 positions will support its Richardson office, now a main hub for serving small business customers alongside locations in Katy, Texas, and Fredericksburg, Virginia. The remaining 200 roles will focus on sales, service, and claims for other insurance lines.

The expansion comes on the heels of significant growth in GEICO’s commercial insurance segment, fueled by new offerings like long-haul trucking coverage. The new roles aim to support the company’s increasing customer base and ensure continued growth.

Jason Andrukonis, GEICO’s Head of Commercial Insurance Operations, emphasized the strategic importance of North Texas, a region with a strong talent pool and vibrant business community. “This investment positions GEICO as a premier destination for small business insurance, helping businesses save money and safeguard their livelihoods,” he said.

Richardson Mayor Bob Dubey praised the expansion, noting its positive impact on the local economy and workforce. “This is a testament to our community’s ability to attract and support thriving businesses,” he stated.

GEICO is actively hiring for commercial insurance sales and service positions, with opportunities for leadership development and career growth.

© 2024 David Mazor

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.

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GEICO

GEICO Teams Up with Netflix’s Leo for Unprecedented Co-Branded Campaign

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In a groundbreaking collaboration, Berkshire Hathaway’s auto insurance giant, GEICO, has joined forces with Netflix to launch a unique advertising campaign featuring the iconic GEICO Gecko alongside the animated star of Netflix’s latest hit, Leo.

The animated feature, Leo, recently made its debut on Netflix and swiftly ascended to the coveted #1 spot on the global top 10 list. Capitalizing on the film’s success, GEICO’s ad campaign integrates the beloved GEICO Gecko, offering advice and insights to the animated lizard sensation, Leo.

What sets this campaign apart is the active involvement of the GEICO Gecko in the production process. The charming green spokesperson was seen consulting on-set, providing guidance on a myriad of topics, ranging from delivering stellar performances in front of the camera to achieving the perfect lighting for the distinctive lizard scales to ensure they pop on screen.

This innovative collaboration was made possible through a strategic partnership between The Martin Agency’s newly established Martin Entertainment division and Netflix’s Marketing Partnerships team. The campaign also received crucial media support from GEICO’s designated media agency, IPG Mediabrands.

The fusion of GEICO’s marketing prowess with the entertainment expertise of The Martin Agency and Netflix’s creative team has resulted in a campaign that not only captures the spirit of Leo but also elevates the synergy between two iconic brands. As streaming platforms and advertisers continue to explore new avenues for engagement, this co-branded campaign sets a precedent for innovative and captivating collaborations in the ever-evolving landscape of entertainment and advertising.

© 2023 David Mazor

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 a 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.

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Insurance

Berkshire’s TransRe Announces Major Change In Executive Leadership

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On May 1, 2023, TransRe will experience a major leadership transition as Executive Vice Chairman, Paul Bonny, retires after 41 years with the company. Bonny founded the company’s International division when he opened the London office in 1982. Over the years, he has built a team of almost 200 professionals in eleven offices across eight time zones and played a pivotal role in creating the global reinsurance brand that TransRe is today.

Despite his retirement, Bonny will remain a valuable asset to the company in his ongoing role as a non-Executive Director of TransRe. His contributions have not gone unnoticed, with Ken Brandt, CEO of TransRe, acknowledging Bonny’s significant impact on the company and the wider international markets.

Brandt said, “Paul has been an institution both at TransRe and across the London and international markets throughout my reinsurance career. For the past seventeen years, I have been able to call on his advice and counsel, and I have been lucky enough to call him my friend. I wish Paul and Sue a long and healthy retirement together.”

TransRe, founded in 1977, is the brand name for Transatlantic Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries, including the Transatlantic Reinsurance Company. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Alleghany Corporation, which was recently acquired by Berkshire Hathaway.

With Bonny’s legacy intact and a new era of leadership on the horizon, TransRe is poised to continue its success in the reinsurance industry.

© 2023 David Mazor

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 a 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.

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Insurance

GEICO Expanding in Texas

Berkshire Hathaway’s GEICO hosted a ceremony on February 15 to celebrate the expansion of its commercial insurance operations at its office in Katy, Texas, which will support this growing area of GEICO’s business. With this expansion, GEICO expects to add 250-500 new positions in Katy over the next five years.

“The hundreds of jobs we’re adding here in Katy over the next few years will primarily focus on small business insurance sales and customer service,” said Melissa Gallaro, GEICO senior vice president. “We need outgoing, solutions-oriented individuals to work with our customers to help them find the coverage that makes most sense for the type of business they own.”

Gallaro also noted the significant growth GEICO’s commercial insurance business has experienced over the past year “Our investment in the Houston area will allow us to effectively manage that growth as more business owners realize how easy it is to buy coverage through GEICO,” Gallaro said.

Future job openings will include insurance sales and customer service positions.

© 2023 David Mazor

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 a 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.

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Insurance

Berkshire Hathaway Receives $100 Million Seritage Prepayment

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Berkshire Hathaway has another $100 million that it needs to invest.

Seritage Growth Properties, a national owner and developer of retail, residential and mixed-use properties, announced that on November 30, 2022, the company made a voluntary prepayment of $100 million toward its $1.6 billion term loan facility provided by Berkshire Hathaway Life Insurance Company of Company of Nebraska.

With the prepayment, $1.06 billion of the term loan facility remains outstanding.

The prepayment will also reduce the amount of interest Berkshire receives from Seritage’s total annual interest expense by approximately $7.0 million.

© 2022 David Mazor

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 a 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.

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Insurance

Berkshire Receives Loan Prepayment From Seritage

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Berkshire Hathaway now has another $110 million that it needs to invest.

Seritage Growth Properties, a national owner and developer of 150 retail, residential and mixed-use properties, has announced that on October 28, 2022, the Company made a voluntary prepayment of $110 million toward its $1.6 billion term loan facility provided by Berkshire Hathaway Life Insurance Company of Nebraska.

With the prepayment, $1.16 billion of the term loan facility remains outstanding. The prepayment will also reduce Seritage’s total annual interest expense related to the term loan facility by approximately $7.7 million.

© 2022 David Mazor

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 a 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.

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Insurance

Berkshire Has $70 Million That It Needs to Put To Work

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Berkshire Hathaway now has another $70 million that it needs to invest.

Seritage Growth Properties, a national owner and developer of 150 retail, residential and mixed-use properties, has announced that on September 30, 2022, it made a voluntary prepayment of $70 million toward its $1.6 billion term loan facility provided by Berkshire Hathaway Life Insurance Company of Nebraska.

With the prepayment, $1.27 billion of the term loan facility remains outstanding. The prepayment will also reduce Seritage’s total annual interest expense related to the term loan facility by approximately $4.9 million.

© 2022 David Mazor

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 a 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.

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Insurance

GenStar Launches Real Estate Professionals E&O Program with RPS Signature Programs

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Berkshire Hathaway’s GenStar’s Delegated Programs Unit announces the launch of its Real Estate Professionals E&O program with RPS Signature Programs, the program administration division of specialty insurance distributor Risk Placement Services.

GenStar President and CEO Marty Hacala commented, “GenStar has been in the business of insuring real estate companies for the past 20 years. Our longevity in this class of business demonstrates our commitment to supporting the insurance needs of real estate professionals by offering broad coverage including for services as a real estate agent/broker, property manager, auctioneer, short-term escrow agent, and real estate consultant.”

Adrienne Woodhull, RPS Area President, said, “We are pleased to expand our relationship with GenStar through this new E&O program, building upon the success of our E&O appraisers’ program, which we launched earlier this year.”

The Real Estate Professionals E&O coverage includes:

• Limits of up to $2 million
• Contingent Bodily Injury and Property Damage coverage
• Open House and Failure to Disclose Pollution/Environmental Hazards subject to policy limits, Fair Housing coverage
• Free Extended Reporting Period may be available
• Defense costs outside the limits of liability available
• Prior Acts coverage with proof of continuous coverage
• Free risk management assistance hotline for all insureds
• Broad definition of professional real estate business including: Real estate agent/broker, property manager, auctioneer, short-term escrow agent, and real estate consultant

The program is available in the District of Columbia and all states except AK, LA, NY and WV. The District of Columbia and all eligible states will be written on an admitted basis except for the State of California where it will be offered on a non-admitted basis.

Matt Brown, GenStar Senior VP, Delegated Division Manager, noted, “We are excited to build the Real Estate Professional business with RPS. Both organizations have expertise in this line of business. We believe GenStar can deliver a competitive solution that will provide broad insurance protection for real estate professionals.”

© 2022 David Mazor

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 a 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.

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Insurance

Berkshire Hathaway Insurer Uses AI Software to Determine Wildfire Fire Risk

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With devastation from wildfires growing every year, Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies is now using advanced software that analyzes a property that falls within a wildfire perimeter and predicts how likely is it to be destroyed.

A recent report from Aon found there were three separate wildfires in 2021 alone that generated economic losses beyond $1 billion, which outlines the growing importance of property-specific risk models for maintaining coverage in wildfire-prone states.

BHHC is using Zesty.ai’s wildfire model (Z-FIRE™) that combines vital property details and actual loss data with machine learning to produce a predictive risk score.

BHHC has expanded their partnership with Zesty.ai, extending the use of Zesty.ai’s AI-powered wildfire risk model, Z-FIRE™, to 12 states.

Z-FIRE™ will be used to inform both underwriting and rating decisions, and the partnership expansion comes at a critical time for the insurance industry.

“Unfortunately, wildfires are impacting communities well beyond the western U.S., and managing that risk requires advanced models that help us truly understand wildfire risk at the individual-property level. Zesty.ai’s model has outperformed our homegrown wildfire risk model,” said Brian Hall, Vice President – Products and Underwriting at Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies. “We started working with Zesty.ai last year and saw an immediate opportunity to leverage granular wildfire insights that allow us to confidently write policies that commensurate with a property’s true risk.”

Z-FIRE™ not only provides regional and property-specific risk scores but also an explanation of the specific risk factors affecting the property. Using artificial intelligence that has been trained on more than 1,500 wildfire events across more than 20 years of historical loss data, it considers property-level features that influence risk.

Topography, historical climate data and critical factors extracted from high-resolution imagery such as building materials and surrounding vegetation in multiple defensible spaces are taken into account. This empowers insurers with a true property-level risk score that effectively splits risk, while providing the flexibility to recognize mitigation efforts by homeowners and their respective communities.

“The Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies have always been known for taking a progressive, innovative approach to risk management, and as wildfires continue to reach new geographies we commend them for being proactive with their approach to rating and underwriting around wildfire risk,” said Attila Toth, Founder & CEO of Zesty.ai. “The broad adoption of Z-FIRE™, which is now used in rating and underwriting across the entire Western US, is a critical piece of hardening the insurance industry and their customers to defend against climate risks.”

© 2022 David Mazor

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 a 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.

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GEICO

GEICO Shutters All 38 California Offices

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GEICO has closed all 38 of its offices in California and laid off several hundred employees.

According to the insurer, the move will not impact its ability to write policies in the state.

“We continue to write policies in California, and we remain available through our direct channels for the more than 2.18 million California customers presently insured with us,” GEICO said in a Sacramento Bee article.

© 2022 David Mazor

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.