Warren Buffett

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Warren E. Buffett "has been Chief Executive Officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., since 1970. Mr. Buffett is a controlling person of Hathaway Inc. Mr. Buffett served as Chief Executive Officer of Salomon Inc. from August 18, 1991 to June 3, 1992 and Chief Executive Officer of Salomon Brothers Inc. from August 18, 1991 to May 27, 1992. He has been Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., a holding company of See's Candy Shops, Inc. since 1970. He served as Interim Chairman of Salomon Inc. from August 18, 1991 to June 3, 1992 and interim Chairman of Salomon Brothers Inc. from August 18, 1991 to May 27, 1992. Mr. Buffett has been a Director of Washington Post Co., since May 1996 and serves as Lead director and previously also served as its Director from 1974 to 1986. He has been a Director of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. since 1965. He has been a Director of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. since March 2000. He serves as a Director of The Gillette Company. He has been a Director of Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Inc., (formerly, Salomon Inc.) since 1987. Mr. Buffett is also a Life Trustee of The Urban Institute. and serves as Director of Grinnell College. He served as a Director of Coca-Cola Co., from 1989 to April 2006." ^[1]

Advisory Board, International Center for Journalists

His wife is Susan T. Buffett.

1 Warren Buffett and tobacco
2 Warren Buffett and coal
3 Resources and articles

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Warren Buffett and tobacco

During the RJR-Nabisco, Inc. hostile takeover fight in the late 1980s, Buffett was quoted as telling Salomon Brothers he liked the profit-making potential of selling cigarettes. "I'll tell you why I like the cigarette business," he explained to Salomon-Chairman John Gutfreund in 1987, according to the book "Barbarians at the Gate." "It costs a penny to make. Sell it for a dollar. It's addictive. And there's fantastic brand loyalty."

However, by 1994, Buffett had changed his stance on tobacco. Shares of cigarette stocks were dropping in price at that time, due to increased smoking restrictions and government inquiries into the cigarette business. Speaking to shareholders at Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska in April 1994, Buffett said investments in tobacco are "fraught with questions that relate to societal attitudes and those of the present administration...I would not like to have a significant percentage of my net worth invested in tobacco businesses," said Buffett.^[2]

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Warren Buffett and coal

In 2007, Buffett's PacifiCorp, a subsidiary of his MidAmerican Energy, cancelled six proposed coal-fired power plants. These included Utah's Intermountain Power Project Unit 3, Jim Bridger Unit 5, and four proposed plants previously included in PacifiCorp's Integrated Resource Plan. The cancellations came in the wake of pressure from regulators and citizen groups, including a petition drive organized by Salt Lake City commercial real estate broker Alexander Lofft and directed at Buffett personally. The 1,600 petitioners, who described themselves in a letter to Buffett as "a collection of citizens, business owners and managers, service professionals, public servants, and organization representatives ... your friends and new customers here in Utah," explained that, in their view, any further expansion of coal generation in Utah would "compromise our health, obscure our viewsheds, shrink and contaminate our watersheds, and thin out our most beloved snowpack," concluding that "our attractiveness as a place to live and work is also threatened, and so is our economic competitiveness as a major metro area and a state, compromising our recent gains in income and property values."^[3]

In November 2009 Berkshire Hathaway bought Burlington Northern Railroad, known as BNSF Railway, for $34 billion.^[4] According to BNSF's website, the coal the railway hauls each year could produce more than 10 percent of the nation's total electricity. BNSF supplies 60 utilities in 28 states, as well as power plants in Canada, Mexico, Asia, and Europe. In 2008, BNSF transported 297 million tons of coal.^[5] 90% of the coal BNSF transports is mined in the Powder River Basin.^[6]

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