Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company. Co.'s subsidiaries are engaged in several business activities which include: underwriting private passenger automobile insurance; operation of a railroad system in North America; regulated electric and gas utility; manufacturing of products including industrial, consumer and building products; wholesale distribution of groceries and non-food items; provider of services including aviation pilot training, electronic components distribution and retailing businesses, including automotive dealerships; and manufactured housing and related consumer financing, transportation equipment, manufacturing and leasing, and furniture leasing. We show 33 historical shares outstanding datapoints in our BRK.B shares outstanding history coverage, used to compute BRK.B market cap on those dates.
Understanding the changing numbers of shares outstanding, the changing
share price, and the resulting changing BRK.B market cap history over the course of time is important for investors
interested in comparing BRK.B's market cap history versus its peers.
Many "beginner" or "novice" investors will look at one stock trading at a price of $10 per share and another trading at
a price of $20 per share and think the latter company is worth twice as much. Of course, that is a completely meaningless comparison without also knowing how many shares outstanding there are for each of the two companies,
and then calculating their respective market caps. Comparing the share price of BRK.B versus a peer is one thing; comparing
BRK.B market cap versus a peer is a completely different story.
Furthermore, via fluctuation both in per-share price and in the number of shares outstanding (via issuance of new shares over time, the repurchase of existing shares),
the market cap for a company like BRK.B can fluctuate over the course of history.
With this page we aim to empower investors researching BRK.B by allowing them to research the BRK.B market cap history. |
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Video: The Importance of Market Cap
