Berkshire Hathaway vs Microsoft: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: Berkshire Hathaway and Microsoft 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. 1975Microsoft

   Microsoft Founded

   Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft after recognizing that the Altair 8800 needed usable programming software. Their first product, Altair BASIC, turned a hobbyist computer kit into a programmable platform.

9. 1981Microsoft

   MS-DOS Ships With IBM PC

   IBM introduced its personal computer with MS-DOS 1.0 and other Microsoft products. The milestone mattered because Microsoft's operating-system work moved from a small software supplier's project into the emerging corporate PC standard.

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. 1985Microsoft

    Windows Launch

    The release of Windows 1.0 began Microsoft's long move from command-line operating systems to graphical personal computing. The first version was not an instant blockbuster, but it gave Microsoft a user-interface path that could evolve with PC hardware.

12. 1986Microsoft

    Microsoft IPO

    Microsoft went public on the Nasdaq in March 1986.

13. 1990Microsoft

    Office Suite Release

    The bundling of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into Microsoft Office created a productivity suite that became central to business work. The bundle simplified enterprise purchasing and made file compatibility a competitive weapon.

14. 1995Microsoft

    Windows 95 Released

    Microsoft released Windows 95 in August 1995.

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. 1998Microsoft

    U.S. Antitrust Case

    The U.S. Department of Justice accused Microsoft of using Windows power to suppress browser competition. The case mattered because it placed Microsoft's platform tactics under public and legal scrutiny at the height of its PC strong position.

18. 2010Berkshire Hathaway

    BNSF Railway Acquired

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

19. 2010Microsoft

    Azure Commercial Launch

    Azure gave Microsoft a way to compete in cloud infrastructure as enterprise customers began shifting workloads away from company-owned servers.

20. 2014Microsoft

    Satya Nadella CEO

    Satya Nadella became CEO and moved Microsoft away from a strategy that forced every product to serve Windows. He prioritized Azure, Microsoft 365, open source, Linux support, cross-platform software, and a more collaborative developer posture.

21. 2016Berkshire Hathaway

    Precision Castparts Acquired

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

22. 2016Microsoft

    LinkedIn Acquisition

    Microsoft agreed to acquire LinkedIn in 2016 for $26.2 billion in cash. The deal mattered because it added a professional identity network to a company already strong in Office, Dynamics, cloud services, recruiting tools, advertising, and enterprise sales.

23. 2018Berkshire Hathaway

    Abel and Jain Named Vice Chairmen

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

24. 2018Microsoft

    GitHub Acquisition

    Microsoft acquired GitHub for $7.5 billion in stock, reversing years of developer skepticism toward the company. The acquisition placed Microsoft inside the daily workflow of software developers across languages, clouds, and operating systems.

25. 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.

26. 2023Microsoft

    AI Leadership

    Microsoft's expanded OpenAI partnership and Copilot product rollout placed the company at the center of enterprise generative AI adoption.

27. 2023Microsoft

    Activision Blizzard Acquisition Closes

    Microsoft completed the Activision Blizzard acquisition after intense regulatory review. The deal added Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Candy Crush, and other franchises to Microsoft Gaming.

28. 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.

29. 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.

30. 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.

31. 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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