Adobe vs Berkshire Hathaway: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: Adobe and Berkshire Hathaway side by side

1. 1839Berkshire Hathaway

   Valley Falls Company Founded

   Oliver Chace founds the Valley Falls Company in Valley Falls, Rhode Island, as a cotton textile manufacturer. Chace had learned the trade working with Samuel Slater and built his first mill in 1806.

2. 1955Berkshire Hathaway

   Berkshire Fine Spinning and Hathaway Manufacturing Merge

   Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates and Hathaway Manufacturing combine and take the Berkshire Hathaway name.

3. 1962Berkshire Hathaway

   Buffett Partnership Buys Its First Berkshire Shares

   Buffett Partnership Ltd. buys its first Berkshire Hathaway shares in December 1962. Buffett was drawn to the pattern of Berkshire closing plants and using the liquidation proceeds to repurchase its own stock.

4. 1964Berkshire Hathaway

   Tender Offer Dispute With Seabury Stanton

   Berkshire president Seabury Stanton asks Buffett at what price Buffett Partnership would sell, agrees to $11.50 a share, then mails a tender offer at $11.375.

5. 1965Berkshire Hathaway

   Buffett Takes Control and Names Ken Chace President

   Buffett Partnership takes control of Berkshire Hathaway in May 1965 and Stanton leaves. Buffett selects Ken Chace, a long-time employee, as president to run the textile operation, and the cash it generates is pointed at other industries.

6. 1967Berkshire Hathaway

   Entry Into Insurance With National Indemnity

   Early in 1967 Berkshire pays $8.6 million to buy National Indemnity Company and a small sister insurer from owner Jack Ringwalt.

7. 1972Berkshire Hathaway

   See's Candies Bought for $25 Million

   Blue Chip Stamps, controlled by Buffett and Munger and later merged into Berkshire, buys See's Candies for $25 million.

8. 1982Adobe

   Adobe founded

   John Warnock and Charles Geschke founded Adobe after working together at Xerox.

9. 1984Adobe

   PostScript introduced

   Adobe introduced PostScript, its first product and a foundation of desktop publishing.

10. 1985Berkshire Hathaway

    Textile Operations Closed

    Buffett decides in July 1985 to close Berkshire's textile operation and the shutdown is largely complete by year end. He described it as finally throwing in the towel after twenty years of unremitting struggle with the business.

11. 1986Adobe

    Adobe completes IPO

    Adobe completed its initial public offering and its shares began trading on Nasdaq.

12. 1987Adobe

    Illustrator launched

    Adobe introduced Illustrator for vector graphics.

13. 1990Adobe

    Photoshop 1.0 released

    Adobe released the first version of Photoshop after licensing the software from Thomas and John Knoll.

14. 1993Adobe

    Acrobat and PDF introduced

    Adobe introduced Acrobat and the Portable Document Format.

15. 1996Berkshire Hathaway

    GEICO Becomes Wholly Owned and Class B Shares Created

    Berkshire buys the remaining 49% of GEICO on January 2, 1996, having held 51%, and GEICO becomes a wholly owned subsidiary. Shareholders also approve a recapitalization creating Class B shares with the economic rights of one thirtieth of a Class A share.

16. 1998Berkshire Hathaway

    General Re and Executive Jet Acquired

    Berkshire acquires reinsurer General Re and fractional-aircraft operator Executive Jet.

17. 2000Adobe

    Bruce Chizen becomes CEO

    Bruce Chizen succeeded John Warnock as chief executive officer.

18. 2005Adobe

    Macromedia acquisition completed

    Adobe completed its stock acquisition of Macromedia, adding products including Flash and Dreamweaver.

19. 2007Adobe

    Shantanu Narayen becomes CEO

    Shantanu Narayen became Adobe's chief executive officer in December 2007.

20. 2009Adobe

    Omniture acquisition completed

    Adobe acquired Omniture and expanded into web analytics and digital marketing software.

21. 2010Berkshire Hathaway

    BNSF Railway Acquired

    Berkshire completes its purchase of Burlington Northern Santa Fe in the first quarter of 2010.

22. 2013Adobe

    Creative Cloud subscription shift

    Adobe stopped developing new Creative Suite releases and focused future creative-software releases on Creative Cloud subscriptions.

23. 2016Berkshire Hathaway

    Precision Castparts Acquired

    Berkshire completes the purchase of Precision Castparts, an aerospace and industrial components maker, for $235 a share in cash.

24. 2018Adobe

    Marketo acquisition completed

    Adobe completed its $4.75 billion acquisition of Marketo.

25. 2018Berkshire Hathaway

    Abel and Jain Named Vice Chairmen

    Berkshire's board expands from twelve to fourteen directors and elects Greg Abel and Ajit Jain.

26. 2021Adobe

    Frame.io acquisition completed

    Adobe completed its acquisition of Frame.io for approximately $1.275 billion.

27. 2022Berkshire Hathaway

    Alleghany Corporation Acquired

    Berkshire completes the acquisition of insurer Alleghany Corporation on October 19, 2022, paying $848.02 a share in cash for a total equity value of about $11.6 billion and adding the TransRe reinsurance business.

28. 2023Adobe

    Firefly launched

    Adobe introduced Firefly generative-AI models and began integrating them into its applications.

29. 2023Adobe

    Figma agreement terminated

    Adobe and Figma mutually terminated their proposed merger after concluding there was no clear path to regulatory approval.

30. 2024Berkshire Hathaway

    Market Value Tops $1 Trillion

    Berkshire's market capitalization passes $1 trillion on August 28, 2024, making it the first US company outside the technology sector to reach that level.

31. 2024Berkshire Hathaway

    Pilot Travel Centers Fully Owned

    Berkshire acquires the remaining 20% of Pilot Travel Centers on January 16, 2024 and takes full ownership. It had bought 38.6% in 2017 and a further 41.4% for about $8.2 billion in January 2023.

32. 2025Adobe

    Fiscal 2025 revenue reaches $23.769 billion

    Adobe reported $23.769 billion in revenue and $7.130 billion in net income for fiscal 2025.

33. 2025Berkshire Hathaway

    Board Approves Abel as CEO From January 2026

    Berkshire announces in May 2025 that Greg Abel will become President and Chief Executive Officer on January 1, 2026, with Warren Buffett remaining Chairman of the Board.

34. 2026Adobe

    Anil Chakravarthy named next CEO

    Adobe appointed Anil Chakravarthy to become president and CEO on December 1, 2026, with Shantanu Narayen becoming executive chair.

35. 2026Berkshire Hathaway

    Abel Becomes CEO and Buffett Becomes Chairman Emeritus

    Abel takes over as CEO on January 1, 2026 and Berkshire completes the $9.7 billion purchase of OxyChem from Occidental on January 2. On September 18, 2026 Buffett is named Chairman Emeritus and remains a director, and his son Howard G.

Acquisitions

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