Berkshire Hathaway

The mill in New Bedford, Massachusetts was dying when Warren Buffett bought it in nineteen sixty-five. Looms sat idle. The textile business lost money on nearly every shipment. The share price had collapsed to fourteen dollars. For most investors, it was a grave to bury capital in. Buffett bought it anyway. He shut the looms down within months. Buffett converted the shell into an acquisition vehicle: National Indemnity, GEICO, General Reinsurance. Insurance companies collect premiums up front. They pay claims later. That gap—sometimes months, years—is called float. A customer pays a premium in January. The company holds it. Claims trickle throughout the year. In December, pieces of January's premium still sit in the account. Berkshire's insurance operations accumulated one hundred sixty billion in float by twenty twenty-three. Not borrowed money. Customer money held between collection and payout. The cost was almost nothing.