Berkshire Hathaway has been recently in news, with one question in everyone's mind: who will take the reins of the empire built by 88-year-old billionaire Warren Buffett? Well the time will tell, as in January 2019, Berkshire Hathaway has added two senior executives — Gregory E. Abel and Ajit Jain to its board. Before I discuss on who is Gregory E. Abel and Ajit Jain, let us know who is Warren Buffett! Personal: Birth date:  August 30, 1930 Birth place:  Omaha, Nebraska Birth name:  Warren Edward Buffett Father:  Howard Buffett, politician and businessman Mother:  Leila (Stahl) Buffett Marriages:  Astrid Menks (August 30, 2006-present); Susan (Thompson) Buffett (April 19, 1952-July 29, 2004, her death) Children:  with Susan (Thompson) Buffett: Peter, 1958; Howard, 1954; Susan, 1953 Education:  University of Nebraska, B.S., 1950; Columbia University, M.S. in Economics, 1951 Other Facts: Nicknamed the "Oracle of Omaha...

Barely three weeks into March and the automotive industry is already abuzz with news on companies getting into further consolidation mode. Wednesday saw Toyota and Suzuki announce the next phase of their partnership which, cliched as it may sounds, is truly in top gear. Apart from Baleno and Brezza, Suzuki will now supply its Ertiga and Ciaz models to Toyota which, in turn, will re-engineer and retail them under its own badge. Under cross-badging, companies come together to sell a vehicle under different brand names, with some small cosmetic changes. Developmental costs of new models are minimized while brand identity is also retained. Beyond Japan Inc, there are other marriages happening elsewhere across the world. Volkswagen will work with Ford on pick-ups and potentially other initiatives in the mobility space. VW has also joined hands with Hino Motors (a Toyota group company) to explore opportunities in commercial vehicles though this could largely be focused on the ...

Rajat Gupta in his memoir, "Mind Without Fear," that released Monday, tells of his dramatic rise to the top of the corporate and financial world in America and then his fall after being charged in 2012, in one of the largest insider trading cases in the US. The memoir comes just months after a federal appeals court declined to throw out Gupta’s 2012 conviction. Gupta had argued that U.S. prosecutors failed to prove he got a personal benefit for passing tips to his friend, billionaire hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam. In 2012, Gupta was found guilty of passing confidential boardroom information to the hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam, who is currently serving 11 years in prison for insider trading. One such information the prosecutors alleged Gupta shared with Rajaratnam in September 2008 was about Berkshire Hathaway’s five billion dollar investment in Goldman Sachs. While Gupta has already served his prison term, a ruling in his favor would have cleared his record. ...

Hewlett-Packard and software company Autonomy Co-founder Mike Lynch is set to fight a USD 5 billion civil fraud trial in London's High Court starting Monday.  The High Court lawsuit was filed by HP against Mr. Lynch and former Autonomy finance officer Sushovan Hussain in 2015. HP alleges that the men were behind the fraudulent manipulation of Autonomy’s accounting information on a massive scale, leading to HP paying an extra USD 5 billion for the company. The men deny the allegations and maintain the losses stem from HP’s own mismanagement of Autonomy’s integration. In the meanwhile, the US government has accused Mr. Lynch of destroying documents, money laundering and paying hush money to influence court proceedings. In an explosive set of new allegations made against the British tech entrepreneur, the Department of Justice added three counts of conspiracy and securities fraud to the 14 he is already charged with on Friday. As the High Court trial is due to start i...

HSBC is set to boost its wealth management offering with the use of the BlackRock Aladdin Wealth platform, after 18 months’ collaboration between the two parties.     Aladdin began as an internal tool at BlackRock before becoming the linchpin of Chief Executive Larry Fink’s plan to increase revenues from technology. It is used by investment managers to help to oversee risks and make investment decisions.  The partnership between Europe’s largest bank and the world’s biggest asset manager comes as both industries are battling to use technology to increase profits and improve service. Aladdin Wealth is tool that enables portfolio analysis, taking into account weight and risk management. Aladdin has largely been used in asset management since its creation over 30 years ago and was recently selected by Santander Asset Management to drive it digital transformation. BlackRock’s Fink has said he aims to increase revenues from technology to 30 percent of the firm’s...

From '#Open Happiness' to '#Taste The Feeling' ,#Coca-Cola has taken all it`s four sub-brands Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero and Coca-Cola Life under one umbrella. No more company is going to market them separately ,back in march 2015 company took a pilot project in UK ,and calling it a 'success’, company decided to take it globally. To support the changes, the soft drink brand has worked with four different agencies – Mercado-McCann, Sra. Rushmore, Santo, and Oglivy & Mather New York – and will launch 10 TV ads across 2016.Campaign begins with the global TV spot ‘Anthem’, which shows Coca-Cola’s impact on social situations such as ice-skating with friends, a first date, a first kiss, and a first love. CMO Marcos de Quinto said that the ‘One Brand’ strategy will provide consumers with ‘more choices’ as the brand aims to promote responsible health choices in light of global calls for a crackdown on sugar. adding on He further said "So far our s...

Corporate restructuring can be defined as when a company changes it`s business capacity/functioning through an inorganic route.These days corporate restructuring is done because of:- Rapid Technological change Coming up of new markets with new class of consumers Increase in competition Globalization etc. There can be many types/forms of the Corporate restructuring,like:-  Merger and Acquisition Consolidation Divestiture Joint venture Carve out Buy back of securities De-merger De-listing the company from the stock exchanges etc. Companies resort to Restructuring so as to increase the shareholders wealth,value and growth of the company plus the need of an hour too demands the same as it gives room to the Companies to have an edge over there competitors. And at present business scenario, it has become Necessary for a company to restructure itself from time to time as due to cut throat competition in the market,Companies either resort to market development,market...