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Investing
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said third-quarter profit tripled as stock markets advanced and the cost of compensating insurance customers for storm damage dropped.
Net income advanced to $3.24 billion, or $2,087 a share, from $1.06 billion, or $682, in the same period a year earlier, the Omaha, Neb.-based company said Friday. Operating earnings, which exclude some investments and derivative results, were $1,325 a share, beating the $1,267 average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Buffett, buoyed by six months of increased profit, targeted Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. this week for the largest takeover in his four decades as Berkshire's chairman. The biggest two-quarter rally in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index since 1975 lifted Berkshire's stock portfolio, raised the value of derivative bets and boosted investments he made last year in companies including Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Banking
If Jamie Dimon ever needs fatherly advice, he can turn to his newest employee: Dad.
Theodore "Ted" Dimon, the father of JPMorgan Chase & Co. chief executive officer Jamie Dimon, quit Bank of America's Merrill Lynch unit Friday to join his son's firm, according to a person familiar with the matter. JPMorgan spokesman Darin Oduyoye confirmed the decision.
The elder Dimon and his five-member stockbroking team will join Bear Stearns Private Client Services, a unit acquired by his son in the March 2008 takeover of the failed investment bank. Ted Dimon will report to Michael Lee, who heads the unit's New York office. Bloomberg News
