Berkshire Hathaway vs Tesla: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: Berkshire Hathaway and Tesla 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. 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.

10. 1998Berkshire Hathaway

    General Re and Executive Jet Acquired

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

11. 2003Tesla

    Tesla Motors Founded

    Tesla Motors was founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning to prove that lithium-ion batteries could power a desirable electric car.

12. 2004Tesla

    Elon Musk Leads Series A

    Elon Musk led Tesla's Series A financing in 2004 and became chairman. The investment gave Tesla enough capital and public credibility to continue Roadster development.

13. 2008Tesla

    Roadster Launch

    The Roadster launched in 2008 as a highway-capable electric sports car with more than 200 miles of range. It mattered because it proved an EV could be fast, premium and emotionally desirable.

14. 2008Tesla

    Elon Musk Becomes CEO

    Musk became CEO in 2008 during a severe financing and production crisis. He restructured operations, secured emergency funding and pushed the company toward a clearer product sequence.

15. 2010Berkshire Hathaway

    BNSF Railway Acquired

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

16. 2010Tesla

    Tesla IPO

    Tesla went public in 2010, raising capital while still far from stable profitability. The IPO mattered because it gave Tesla access to public-market funding for product development and manufacturing.

17. 2012Tesla

    Model S Launch

    The Model S launched in 2012 and moved Tesla beyond the Roadster niche. It mattered because it combined range, software, performance and premium design in a vehicle Tesla controlled more fully.

18. 2014Tesla

    Gigafactory Strategy Announced

    Tesla announced the Gigafactory strategy in 2014 with Panasonic as a key partner. The move mattered because batteries were the limiting input for EV scale, cost and range.

19. 2016Berkshire Hathaway

    Precision Castparts Acquired

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

20. 2016Tesla

    SolarCity Acquired

    Tesla's 2016 SolarCity acquisition is company-specific because it changed the portfolio rather than simply adding scale. The reported value was $2.6B.

21. 2017Tesla

    Model 3 Production Crisis

    The Model 3 ramp in 2017 exposed severe bottlenecks caused partly by excessive automation. The crisis mattered because Tesla's mass-market strategy depended on producing a lower-priced vehicle at high volume.

22. 2018Berkshire Hathaway

    Abel and Jain Named Vice Chairmen

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

23. 2020Tesla

    S&P 500 Inclusion

    Tesla joined the S&P 500 in 2020 after proving sustained profitability. The milestone mattered because it brought index-fund ownership, wider institutional attention and validation that Tesla was no longer a speculative startup.

24. 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.

25. 2023Tesla

    Global Price Cuts

    Tesla cut prices across major markets in 2023 to defend demand and pressure competitors. The move mattered because it showed Tesla could use its direct-sales model to adjust faster than dealer-based rivals.

26. 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.

27. 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.

28. 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.

29. 2025Tesla

    $94.8B Revenue and Delivery Decline

    In FY2025, Tesla reported $94.8B in revenue and delivered 1,636,129 vehicles. The milestone mattered because revenue and deliveries both showed the company had entered a more mature, contested phase.

30. 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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