AutoZone vs Berkshire Hathaway: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: AutoZone 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. 1979AutoZone

   Founding of Auto Shack

   J.R. 'Pitt' Hyde III opens the first Auto Shack store in Forrest City, Arkansas on July 4, 1979 as the auto parts division of Malone & Hyde, his family's Memphis wholesale grocery business. First-day sales total US$300.

9. 1983AutoZone

   100th store opens

   Auto Shack opens its 100th store, in Weslaco, Texas, four years after the first. The chain reaches 190 locations in 13 states by 1984.

10. 1984AutoZone

    Management buyout with KKR

    Malone & Hyde, including its Auto Shack division and its 194 stores in 13 states, is taken private in a management buyout involving Hyde and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

11. 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.

12. 1986AutoZone

    Spin-off, Duralast and Loan-A-Tool

    Auto Shack is spun off from Malone & Hyde as its own company with Hyde and president Peter Formanek in charge. The Duralast brand launches with alternators and starters, and the Loan-A-Tool program begins. Radio Shack sues for trademark infringement.

13. 1987AutoZone

    Rebranding to AutoZone

    After Radio Shack wins its trademark case on appeal, the company announces it will rename itself AutoZone, changing signage and packaging across 459 stores in 16 states.

14. 1991AutoZone

    Initial public offering

    Hyde and KKR take the company public in April 1991 on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker AZO. KKR holds a majority of the stock at first and begins selling down by 1993.

15. 1995AutoZone

    1,000th store and Duralast batteries

    AutoZone opens its 1,000th store, in Louisville, Kentucky, and launches the Duralast and Duralast Gold batteries. It ends the year with 1,143 stores in 26 states.

16. 1996AutoZone

    Acquisition of ALLDATA

    AutoZone buys ALLDATA, an Elk Grove, California provider of automotive diagnostic and repair information, in a stock deal valued at about US$56 million, and launches its website the same year.

17. 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.

18. 1998AutoZone

    Chief Auto Parts acquisition

    AutoZone completes its roughly US$280 million purchase of Chief Auto Parts on June 29, 1998, adding more than 550 stores, close to 400 of them in California, and takes the leading share of that market.

19. 1998AutoZone

    First store outside the United States

    AutoZone opens its first international store in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico in December 1998, after a year in which it also bought Auto Palace, TruckPro and Express stores from Pep Boys.

20. 1998Berkshire Hathaway

    General Re and Executive Jet Acquired

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

21. 2001AutoZone

    New chief executive and 3,000th store

    Steve Odland is named chairman and chief executive in January 2001, replacing John Adams. AutoZone opens its 3,000th store in Cicero, Illinois in May and sells its TruckPro division in December.

22. 2005AutoZone

    Bill Rhodes becomes chief executive

    William C. Rhodes III is named president and chief executive in March 2005 after Steve Odland leaves for Office Depot, with founder Pitt Hyde returning as interim non-executive chairman. AutoZone opens its first Puerto Rico store in Bayamon.

23. 2010Berkshire Hathaway

    BNSF Railway Acquired

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

24. 2012AutoZone

    Brazil, Alaska and AutoAnything

    AutoZone enters Brazil with a store in Sao Paulo, opens its 5,000th store in Wasilla, Alaska, its 49th state, and buys online accessories retailer AutoAnything in December.

25. 2016Berkshire Hathaway

    Precision Castparts Acquired

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

26. 2018AutoZone

    Divestitures and founder leaves the board

    AutoZone sells Interamerican Motor Corporation to Parts Authority and AutoAnything to Kingswood Capital in February 2018, refocusing on stores and hubs. Founder Pitt Hyde announces in October that he will step down from the board.

27. 2018Berkshire Hathaway

    Abel and Jain Named Vice Chairmen

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

28. 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.

29. 2024AutoZone

    Leadership transition to Phil Daniele

    Philip B. Daniele III becomes president and chief executive officer on January 2, 2024, succeeding William C. Rhodes III, who becomes executive chairman after nearly 19 years as chief executive.

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. 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.

33. 2026AutoZone

    First year above US$20 billion of sales

    AutoZone reports net sales of US$20.34 billion for the fiscal year ended August 29, 2026, up 7.4 percent, with net income of US$2.57 billion, total company same store sales up 4.5 percent, a record 374 new stores and 8,031 stores at year end, including 172 meg…

34. 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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