Warren Buffett's Long Road Back Into Manufacturing
- Berkshire's manufacturing profit to `grow substantially'
- Precision Castparts could add $2.59 billion in pretax earnings
An employee secures packages of raw wool in a tank used to dye wool at the Woolrich Inc. woolen mill in Woolrich, Pennsylvania, U.S., on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2015. Woolrich, the legendary Pennsylvania-based fabric maker, has been the source of classic, outdoorsy offerings—such as buffalo check shirts and warm, durable blankets—since 1830. Today, the iconic heritage brand sill churns out its heirloom-quality wool blankets by hand at the U.S.'s oldest continuously operating woolen mill.
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/BloombergWhen Warren Buffett took control of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in the mid-1960s, it was a struggling textile manufacturer. After trying for years to revive its fortunes, he shuttered the mills and turned his focus to other industries.
Today, Berkshire is one of the most-valuable companies in the world because of those efforts. It has interests in insurance, utilities, transportation, retail and -- increasingly -- manufacturing.