BRK-A stock Berkshire Hathaway Class A

What if you could buy a single share of a company, and it would cost you more than a new house? That’s not a hypothetical. It’s the reality of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock, which has consistently traded for hundreds of thousands of dollars per share, recently hovering over the $600,000 mark.

This incredible price tag naturally leads to a question: why is it so expensive? The answer isn’t about simple greed or a computer glitch. It traces back to a deliberate philosophy crafted by one of the most famous investors in history, Warren Buffett, who has guided the company for over half a century.

From the beginning, Buffett wanted to attract a certain kind of owner—one who was in it for the long haul, not for a quick profit. He saw the sky-high price as a feature, not a bug. By famously refusing to “split” the stock, which is like cutting a large pizza slice into smaller, cheaper pieces, he ensured that owning the company’s premier share, known by its market ticker symbol BRK-A, remained a serious commitment.

The story behind the berkshire hathaway class a stock reveals Buffett’s entire approach to business. It’s a lesson in long-term thinking, partnership, and value.

The Architect of Value: Who Is Warren Buffett and What Is His Philosophy?

To understand the sky-high stock price, you must first understand the man behind it: Warren Buffett. His approach to the market is famously straightforward and forms the bedrock of Warren Buffett’s investment philosophy. He doesn’t see stocks as blinking lights on a screen to be traded for a quick gain. Instead, he views each share as a small piece of a real business. When he invests, he isn’t just buying a ticker symbol; he’s buying into a company with the intent to be a part-owner for decades.

This mindset completely changes who you want as your fellow shareholders. Buffett didn’t want people who would panic and sell at the first sign of trouble. He was looking for partners, not speculators. His goal was to attract a group of investors who shared his vision of long term investment—people who were committed to the business for the long haul, just like him. It was a philosophy focused on building a stable, loyal ownership base.

As a result, the staggering price of a Class A share wasn’t an accident; it was a deliberate choice. By keeping the price high, Buffett created a natural filter. It ensured that anyone who bought a share was making a serious, significant commitment. This strategy turned the stock itself into a symbol of his core belief: that owning a piece of Berkshire Hathaway should feel like entering into a long-term business partnership, not just making a temporary bet.

Why Not Just Cut the Pizza? The Real Reason BRK-A Never Splits

This intentional high price naturally leads to a question most companies would answer quickly: “Why not just make it cheaper?” For decades, there has been a simple tool for this exact situation, a move so common it’s practically routine in the corporate world. It’s called a stock split.

A stock split is simple to understand: imagine your share of the company is a large slice of pizza. A 2-for-1 stock split is like the company cutting your one big slice into two smaller ones. You still own the same total amount of pizza, but now each piece is more affordable and easier to trade. Most companies do this to lower their share price, making it more accessible to a wider range of investors. The history of the BRK.A stock split, however, is famously short: it has never happened.

For Buffett, however, avoiding a split was a matter of principle. He believed that a lower price would attract short-term speculators—traders looking to make a quick profit from small price swings. This was the exact opposite of the loyal, long-term partners he wanted. By refusing to “cut the pizza,” he ensured that buying a single share of Berkshire Hathaway was a significant financial decision, filtering for investors who were as serious and committed as he was.

The result was a shareholder base that was incredibly stable, largely insulated from the frantic buying and selling that often drives the market. But it also created a perception of an exclusive club, leaving many everyday investors wondering if they could ever be a part of Berkshire’s story. This very problem led the company to create an elegant solution, opening a different door for those without a six-figure entry fee.

The ‘Affordable’ Berkshire: Your Entry Point with Class B Stock

Faced with a stock price that locked out almost everyone, Berkshire Hathaway needed a way to welcome new investors without compromising the principles behind its Class A shares. The company’s elegant solution arrived in 1996: they created an entirely new category of stock. Known as Class B shares, this new stock was a deliberate move to open the doors to the general public. It was a way of saying, “We hear you,” without having to cut that original, giant slice of pizza.

These new shares, which you’ll find under the ticker symbol BRK.B, were designed from day one to be a small, affordable piece of the Berkshire pie. Originally, each Class B share was set at a value of 1/30th of a Class A share. This allowed people to invest in Warren Buffett’s company with a much smaller initial investment, giving them a taste of ownership without needing the wealth of a millionaire. It was an immediate success, finally providing an answer to the question, “How can I invest in Berkshire?”

To keep them accessible, the Class B shares were eventually split, unlike their Class A counterparts. Today, a BRK.B share represents just 1/1500th of the economic value of a single BRK.A share, often trading at a price that’s within reach for most investors. This innovation created what is known as a dual-class stock structure. However, the difference between Class A and Class B isn’t just about price; it’s about power.

A Tale of Two Shares: Why Voting Rights Are the Real Difference

Beyond the price tag, the most critical distinction between Class A and Class B stock boils down to one simple concept: control. Owning a stock doesn’t just give you a piece of the company’s profits; it often gives you a say in its major decisions. This power is exercised through voting rights, and in Berkshire Hathaway’s world, not all votes are created equal.

Think of it like a town hall meeting. Every year, a company’s shareholders vote on important issues, such as who sits on the board of directors—the group responsible for steering the ship. For most companies, one share equals one vote. But Berkshire Hathaway set up a system designed to protect its long-term strategy, giving original Class A shareholders a much louder voice in that meeting.

The difference in influence is staggering. While the exact fraction can change with stock splits, the principle remains the same. Here’s how the voting power breaks down:

• Class A Share (BRK.A): 1 full vote
• Class B Share (BRK.B): 1/10,000th of a vote

This isn’t a typo. You would need to own 10,000 Class B shares just to have the same voting power as someone holding a single Class A share. This structure ensures that Warren Buffett’s foundational, long-term vision for the company is protected from the influence of short-term traders or activist investors. It keeps the original partners in the driver’s seat, allowing them to focus on stability and growth for decades to come, rather than just the next quarter.

What’s Inside the Box? The Famous Companies Owned by Berkshire Hathaway

What does Berkshire Hathaway actually do? Many people picture a giant firm just trading stocks all day, but that’s only part of the picture. Berkshire Hathaway is what’s known as a holding company. Think of it less like a single factory making one product and more like a parent company whose main business is owning a diverse collection of other businesses.

This collection of companies owned by Berkshire Hathaway includes dozens of names you’d instantly recognize. When you get an insurance quote from the GEICO gecko, grab a blizzard from Dairy Queen, or see a Duracell battery commercial, you’re looking at a piece of the Berkshire empire. Here are just a few of the businesses it owns outright:

• GEICO (Insurance)
• Duracell (Batteries)
• Dairy Queen (Fast Food & Ice Cream)
• See’s Candies (Chocolates)
• BNSF Railway (One of the largest freight railroad networks in North America)

On top of owning these companies lock, stock, and barrel, Berkshire also holds massive stock investments in other giants like Apple and Coca-Cola. The distinction is simple: being the full GEICO owner is like owning the entire restaurant, while owning Apple stock is like owning a few slices from a different pizza parlor down the street. This dual strategy is the engine that powers Berkshire’s value.

Can You Buy Just a Tiny Slice of the $600,000 Pizza?

You might be wondering, “So is there any way for a regular person to invest in this company?” The short answer is yes, even for the ultra-expensive Class A stock. This is possible thanks to a modern investing feature called fractional shares. Instead of needing the full $600,000+ to buy one share of BRK.A, you can simply decide how much money you want to invest—whether it’s $100 or $1,000—and buy that dollar amount’s worth of a single share. This innovation finally makes even the world’s priciest stocks accessible to almost anyone.

So, how does this work? Think of a brokerage platform—the app or website you use to buy stocks—as a go-between. The platform buys a full share of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock and then digitally divides it among many smaller investors. You aren’t buying a fraction from Berkshire Hathaway itself, but rather owning a piece of a share that your brokerage holds on your behalf. It’s like the brokerage buying the whole pizza and then selling you a single bite.

There is, however, a key trade-off for this accessibility. When you own a fractional share, you typically don’t get the voting rights that come with owning a full Class A share. You get the economic benefit—your investment goes up or down with the company’s value—but you don’t get a say in the company’s decisions. Still, you own a real piece of the underlying business.

Decoding Buffett-Speak: What Is ‘Book Value’ and Why Does It Matter?

When trying to figure out a company’s underlying worth, Warren Buffett historically started with a simple concept called book value. Imagine you decided to sell everything you own—your car, furniture, and electronics—and then used that cash to pay off all your debts, like a credit card balance or a car loan. The money left over would be your personal “book value.” For a company, it’s the same principle: it’s the on-paper value of all its assets (factories, cash, equipment) after subtracting all of its liabilities (debts and obligations).

For decades, this number was Buffett’s favorite yardstick for success. As Berkshire acquired more industrial companies and stocks, tracking the growth in its book value was a conservative, reliable way to show shareholders their investment was becoming more substantial. His old annual letters show a constant focus on understanding Berkshire’s book value, as he saw it as a tangible measure of the financial fortress he was building for his co-owners.

However, as Berkshire grew into a behemoth that owns entire world-class businesses (like GEICO and BNSF Railway), this old metric became less useful. The “book value” of a company like See’s Candies doesn’t capture the immense real-world value of its brand name and loyal customers. Recognizing this, Buffett himself now advises shareholders that book value dramatically understates Berkshire’s true worth. This candid insight is just one example of the unique culture he has built around the company.

A Festival for Capitalists: The Culture of the Berkshire Annual Meeting

This unique culture culminates every year in an event unlike any other in the corporate world: the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting. Often dubbed the “Woodstock for Capitalists,” it draws tens of thousands of shareholders not to a stuffy boardroom, but to a stadium in Omaha, Nebraska. It’s less of a mandatory business update and more of a pilgrimage for those who follow Buffett’s philosophy, transforming a typically dry event into a full-blown festival celebrating business and long-term value.

For two days, the main attraction is a marathon question-and-answer session where Warren Buffett and his late partner Charlie Munger would field unrehearsed questions for hours. Shareholders could ask about anything, from complex economic trends to simple life advice. This radical transparency, offering direct access to the company’s leaders, reinforces the core idea that anyone who owns a share—no matter how small—is a true partner in the business.

Beyond the main stage, the arena floor becomes a giant shopping expo where shareholders get exclusive discounts on products from the companies Berkshire owns, from See’s Candies to Brooks running shoes. For many attendees, the experience is less about financial data and more about connecting with a global community of like-minded individuals. It highlights that owning the stock isn’t just an investment; it’s an entry into a club that values patience, integrity, and a focus on the long haul.

Looking at the Long Haul: What BRK.A’s History Tells Us

The commitment of Berkshire’s shareholders is fueled by one of the most remarkable growth stories in financial history. To understand its scale, it helps to have a yardstick. For the stock market, a common one is the S&P 500, an index tracking 500 of America’s largest companies. While investing in this broad index has created significant wealth for many, Berkshire Hathaway’s historical performance has left it in the dust. Its track record has long been the gold standard for long-term investment.

The secret ingredient behind this success isn’t some complex Wall Street formula; it’s a powerful force called compounding growth. Imagine a small snowball rolling down a very long, snowy hill. At first, it grows slowly. But as it gets bigger, it gathers more snow with every rotation, accelerating and expanding exponentially. In the same way, the profits Berkshire earns are reinvested back into the company to generate even more profits. Over sixty years, this compounding effect has turned the company into a financial giant.

This incredible growth is the ultimate reward for the patient, long-term partners Warren Buffett wanted to attract. By holding on, investors allowed their financial “snowball” to grow undisturbed for decades. For this strategy to work its magic, however, the company must keep all of its profits to roll back into the business. This raises a natural question: why doesn’t Berkshire send its owners a regular check from those earnings?

Why No Payouts? The Logic Behind Berkshire’s No-Dividend Policy

That regular check for shareholders has a name: a dividend. Many companies pay them, sending a portion of their profits directly to investors as a cash reward for owning a piece of the business. Think of it as a bakery owner giving each of their partners a share of the day’s earnings. It’s a straightforward way to see a return on your investment.

Berkshire Hathaway, however, deliberately chooses not to do this. The reason why BRK does not pay dividends lies at the heart of Warren Buffett’s philosophy. He has consistently argued that he can create more value for shareholders by keeping that cash inside the company. His bet is that he can use that dollar of profit to generate more than a dollar of new value—a better return than an investor would likely get if they received the cash and had to invest it themselves.

Instead of a cash payment, the reward comes from growth. By reinvesting profits to buy new businesses and expand existing ones, the entire Berkshire Hathaway “snowball” gets bigger and bigger. This increases the company’s overall value, which in turn drives up the price of the stock. The payoff for shareholders isn’t a small, steady check; it’s the long-term appreciation of their ownership stake. This hugely successful strategy, however, has been orchestrated by the same leadership for decades, leading many to ask a critical question about the future.

What Happens After Buffett? Planning for Berkshire’s Future

With a leader as iconic as Warren Buffett, the most common question from observers is: what happens next? The answer lies in careful succession planning. The company has publicly named Greg Abel, a long-time Berkshire executive who manages its vast non-insurance operations, as the designated successor to the CEO role. This isn’t a last-minute scramble but a deliberate plan to ensure a smooth transition for Berkshire Hathaway after Buffett eventually steps aside, providing a clear line of leadership for the decades to come.

This change is designed to work because of Berkshire’s unique structure. It isn’t a typical corporation where a single CEO dictates every move. Instead, it’s a decentralized collection of largely independent companies. The presidents of GEICO or Duracell are trusted to run their own ships with significant freedom. The primary job at the top is not to micromanage these dozens of businesses, but to wisely allocate the massive profits they collectively generate—a role for which Greg Abel has been groomed for years.

Ultimately, Berkshire’s future stability hinges less on replacing an irreplaceable person and more on preserving the culture he built. It’s a philosophy rooted in trust, patience, and rational decision-making that empowers the leaders of its many businesses. The real test will be whether the company can maintain this disciplined, long-term mindset. This makes an investment in Berkshire less a bet on a singular genius and more a belief in a durable system.

Your Berkshire Blueprint: It’s More Than a Stock, It’s a Philosophy

That jaw-dropping price tag for a single share of Berkshire Hathaway stock is no longer just an intimidating number. You can now see the story behind it: a deliberate choice by Warren Buffett to build a company with long-term partners, not short-term traders. You have moved from seeing a barrier to understanding a philosophy.

This created two distinct paths for ownership. Class A shares remain a symbol of that original partnership, and the main benefits of owning BRK.A are tied to that commitment and its corresponding voting power. For everyone else, the more accessible Class B shares offer a way to participate in the same collection of companies.

The choice between them shifts the focus from asking “is Berkshire Hathaway a good investment” to a more personal question. You now have the framework to look at any company not just for its price, but for the principles it represents.

Ultimately, the story of this unique stock is a powerful lens for your own journey. It proves that a strong investment philosophy is not about chasing hot tips, but about deciding what kind of owner you want to be. The next time you see a ticker symbol, you won’t just see a price; you’ll know to look for the purpose behind it.