Berkshire Hathaway vs Marvell: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: Berkshire Hathaway and Marvell 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. 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.

9. 1995Marvell

   Marvell founded

   Sehat Sutardja, Weili Dai and Pantas Sutardja found Marvell to build CMOS read-channel chips for hard disk drives.

10. 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.

11. 1998Berkshire Hathaway

    General Re and Executive Jet Acquired

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

12. 2000Marvell

    Nasdaq IPO

    Marvell lists on Nasdaq under the ticker MRVL.

13. 2001Marvell

    Galileo Technology acquired

    Marvell buys Israeli networking chipmaker Galileo Technology in a stock deal of about $2.7 billion, building its Ethernet switch business.

14. 2006Marvell

    Intel XScale business acquired

    Marvell buys Intel's communications and application processor (XScale) business for about $600 million, expanding into mobile chips it later exited.

15. 2010Berkshire Hathaway

    BNSF Railway Acquired

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

16. 2016Berkshire Hathaway

    Precision Castparts Acquired

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

17. 2016Marvell

    Matt Murphy becomes CEO

    After an audit committee investigation and a settlement with Starboard Value, the founders leave and former Maxim executive Matt Murphy becomes CEO.

18. 2018Berkshire Hathaway

    Abel and Jain Named Vice Chairmen

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

19. 2018Marvell

    Cavium acquired

    Marvell acquires Cavium for about $6 billion, adding OCTEON processors and networking products.

20. 2019Marvell

    Aquantia and Avera Semi acquired

    Marvell buys Aquantia for about $452 million and GlobalFoundries' Avera Semi custom ASIC unit for $650 million.

21. 2021Marvell

    Inphi acquired and move to Delaware

    Marvell closes its roughly $10 billion Inphi acquisition, adding optical DSPs, and redomiciles from Bermuda to Delaware as Marvell Technology, Inc.

22. 2021Marvell

    Innovium acquired

    Marvell acquires Ethernet switch startup Innovium for about $1.1 billion in stock, adding the Teralynx switch family.

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. 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.

26. 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.

27. 2025Marvell

    Automotive Ethernet sold to Infineon

    Marvell completes the $2.5 billion sale of its automotive Ethernet business to Infineon, recognizing a pre-tax gain of about $1.8 billion.

28. 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.

29. 2026Marvell

    Celestial AI acquisition closes

    On February 2, 2026, Marvell completes its acquisition of photonic interconnect startup Celestial AI, valued at about $3.25 billion upfront in cash and stock.

30. 2026Marvell

    Fiscal 2026 revenue of $8.195 billion

    Marvell reports fiscal 2026 net revenue of $8.195 billion, up 42%, with Data Center at 74%.

31. 2026Marvell

    Nvidia invests $2 billion

    On March 31, 2026, Nvidia invests $2 billion in Marvell and the companies partner to connect Marvell silicon to Nvidia systems through NVLink Fusion.

32. 2026Marvell

    Dan Durn named CFO

    Former Adobe CFO Dan Durn becomes Marvell CFO on June 15, 2026, succeeding Willem Meintjes.

33. 2026Marvell

    Record Q2 fiscal 2027 revenue

    Marvell reports record quarterly revenue of $2.739 billion, up 37% year over year, and raises its fiscal 2027 and 2028 outlook.

Acquisitions

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