Berkshire Hathaway Has Successor Lined Up, Buffett Says

Berkshire Hathaway says its fourth-quarter net earnings fell 30 percent as the paper value of it’s acquire contracts fell, but most of its subsidiaries performed well or bring to successful conclusion.

Billionaire Warren Buffett a person who has assets worth a billion or more dollars that’s want is a desire or need Berkshire Hathaway shareholders to know that the company has someone in mind to replace him eventually, but he's focus attention on that he has no plans to leave.
Buffett offered a couple new details about Berkshire's succession planning in his annual shareholder letter Saturday. Investors have long worried about who will replace Berkshire's 81-year-old CEO.
 

Berkshire reported fourth-quarter net income of $3.05 billion, or $1,846 per Class A share. That’s down from $4.4 billion net income, or $2,656 per share, a year ago.
Berkshire’s profit fell short of the $1,875 per share that the four analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting.
The biggest difference was the change in estimated value of Berkshire’s investments and derivative contracts. That fell to $382 million this year from last year’s $1.4 billion.
Berkshire’s quarterly revenue grew 5 percent to $37.96 billion from last year’s $36.17 billion.
 

While the world knows about the sensational investing record of Warren Buffett over his legendary career, how are the changes at Berkshire Hathaway  performing since being implemented? The succession plan at Berkshire is among the most high-profile in modern American corporate history. 

Mr. Buffett, who turned 80 in August, has said he will likely split his job in two, separate CEO and investing functions. His first step was hiring Todd Combs, manager of a small hedge fund from Connecticut, to oversee a portion of Berkshire's roughly $100 billion investment portfolio in October 2010. It is time to see the impact of Combs' stock picks and David Sokol's high-profile exit to the portfolio holdings. So how are Berkshires stock purchases from 2011 doing?
It has long been one of Wall Street’s favorite guessing games: Who will succeed Warren E. Buffett as chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway?
Mr. Buffett, in his annual letter to Berkshire shareholders on Saturday, said for the first time that he had chosen a replacement. But Mr. Buffett, 81, did not name the candidate, and emphasized that he and his longtime business partner, the 88-year-old Charlie Munger, were sticking around.
“Do not, however, infer from this discussion that Charlie and I are going anywhere; we continue to be in excellent health, and we love what we do,” wrote Mr. Buffett, who over five decades has built Berkshire, based in Omaha, into one of America’s largest companies.
By signaling a clear succession plan, Mr. Buffett hopes to reassure investors who have expressed concern over Berkshire’s future leadership. Berkshire’s share performance has lagged the broader stock market over the last two years, and Wall Street analysts partly blame the uncertainty surrounding a new chief executive.
Mr. Sokol’s departure, a major embarrassment for Mr. Buffett, went unmentioned in the letter. But he praised the work of several executives who are thought to be leading candidates to replace him as chief, including Ajit Jain, the head of the company’s reinsurance operations; Tad Montross, chief of the insurance business General Re; and Matthew Rose at the railroad unit Burlington Northern Santa Fe.
Beyond succession issues, the 22-page letter delved into the performance of Berkshire’s vast holdings, providing insights into the country’s business prospects.
“In short, when you look at Berkshire, you are looking across corporate America,” wrote Mr. Buffett, whose net worth is about $50 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
With a market capitalization of about $200 billion, Berkshire ranks among the top 10 most valuable companies in the United States, roughly the same size as General Electric and Google. The conglomerate has holdings large and small, like the giant railroad operator Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad and the modest confectioner See’s Candies.
The recent Berkshire Hathaway portfolio report ending 4th quarter 2011 shows several additions to stock holdings previously purchased in 2011 and earlier periods. The Berkshire portfolio owns 34 stocks in total. Eight of these holdings were added to in the 4th and previous quarters of 2011.
To determine how these stock picks have performed, I have compared these stocks against the S&P 500 over the last six months.
Buffett isn't naming the successor. But he says the Berkshire board is enthusiastic about the executive it has picked. He says there are two good back-up candidates.
Previously, Buffett had said only that the board had three central candidates for the job.
Berkshire has also cleared up some succession questions by hiring two hedge fund managers. Buffett says those two have the "brains, judgment and character"

Wanted Sculptures in the modern World!

Sculpture 1390, from L. sculptura "sculpture," from pp. stem of sculpere to carve, engrave, back-formation from compounds such as exculpere, from scalpere "to carve, cut," Sculptor is first recorded 1634, from L. sculptor, from sculpere. 

 1. The Great Sphinx, Cairo, Egypt

The story of sculpture spans pre-historic and ancient nobilities to the contemporary, from the utilitarian and religious to Modernist abstraction, and conceptual manifestations of both form and content.

2. David by Michelangelo, 1501 - 1504; 

Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence, Italy

 3. Venus de Milo 130 - 100 BC;
Louvre Museum, Paris, France

Such works of art collectively means ‘Sculpture’ has been mainly in religious devotion in many cultures, and until recent century’s large sculptures, too expensive for private individuals to create, were usually an expression of religion or politics. 

4. The Thinker by Auguste Rodin,
1902; Musée Rodin, Paris, France

5. The Kiss by Auguste Rodin, 1889;
Rodin Museum, Paris, France

Those the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, whose sculptures have survived in quantities include the cultures of the Ancient Mediterranean, India and China, as well as many in South America and Africa.
 

 6.  The Statue of Liberty
by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, New York, US

7. Christ the Redeemer
By Paul Landowski Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

A statue is a sculpture in the round representing one or more people or animals, normally full-length, as opposed to a bust, and at least close to life-size, or larger. Its primary concern is representational.
 

 8. Tian Tan Buddha, Hong Kong, China

9. The Bronze Horseman by Étienne Maurice Falconet
1782; Saint Petersburg, Russia

The definition of a statue or trophy or memorial is not always clear-cut; sculptures of a person on a horse, called Equestrian statues, are certainly included, and in many cases, such as a Madonna and Child or a Pietà, a sculpture of two people will also be. A small statue, usually small enough to be picked up, is called a statuette or figurine.

10. Apollo and Daphne by Bernini, 1622-1625; Galleria     Borghese, Rome, Italy

11. Little Mermaid at Langelinie in Denmark

 

Sculpture is valuable or substantial form of public art. A collection of sculpture in a garden setting may be referred to as a sculpture garden.
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created means develop in mind or physically by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer ("plastic") materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals. The term has been extended to works including sound, text and light.
Statues are amongst the wonders or marvel, astonishment, amazement of the world, with the Colossus of Rhodes and the Statue of Zeus at Olympia among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the Moai of Easter Island among the wonders of the modern world.

Mother tongue instruction and inclusive education'2012

International Mother Language Day, 21 February 2012The United Nations' (UN) International Mother Language Day annually celebrates every year since February 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism that’s language diversity and variety worldwide on February 21. 

This year the theme of the International Mother Language day is “Mother tongue instruction and inclusive education”.  UNESCO highlights the importance of mother tongue as part of the right to education and encourages its member states to promote instruction and education in the mother tongue.
21 February 2012 marks the thirteenth International Mother Language Day! 

The day was established in 1999 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the day has been celebrated across the globe since February 2000.
International Mother Language Day remembers events such as the killing of four students on February 21, 1952, because they campaigned to officially use their mother language, Bengali, in Bangladesh.
In Bangladesh, February 21 is the anniversary of a pivotal day in the country's history. People lay flowers at a Shaheed Minar (martyr's monument). They also: purchase glass bangles for themselves or female relatives; eat a festive meal and organize parties; and award prizes or host literary competitions. It is a time to celebrate Bangladesh’s culture and the Bengali language.
International Mother Language Day is a public holiday in Bangladesh, where it is also known as Shohid Dibôsh, or Shaheed Day. It is a global observance but not a public holiday in other parts of the world.

Iranian warships enter Mediterranean Sea

Israeli Attack on Iran ’Not Prudent’: DepmseynAn Israeli attack on Iran would be “destabilizing,” the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Army General Martin Dempsey, said.
Iranian ships moved through the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean Sea on Saturday, the IRNA news agency reported, citing the country's navy commander, Admiral Habibollah Sayari.
Sayari said the passage through the Suez Canal was only the second made by Iranian ships since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

It follows the passage of the Iranian frigate Alvand and the supply ship Kharg on Feb. 22 last year. The ships successfully moved through the canal and then docked two days later at the Syrian port of Latakia.
 Israel called last year's passage a "political provocation" and put its own navy on alert in response.
It was not known how many ships passed through the canal Saturday. However, Sayari said the ships were docked in the Saudi port city of Jeddah ahead of their passage through the canal, AFP reported.
Two Iranian ships -- the destroyer Shahid Qandi and the Kharg -- were docked in Jeddah two days ago.
Chairman of US Joint Chiefs tells CNN an attack wouldn't accomplish Israel's long-term goals, says Washington views Tehran as a rational actor, believes it hasn't decided to make a nuclear weapon. 

An Israeli attack on Iran would be “destabilizing,” the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, US Army General Martin Dempsey, said Saturday.

Kate Upton will grace cover of Sports Illustrated cover swimsuit issue

Kate Upton unveiled mean acknowledge her cover for this year's annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue or clothing for swimming on Monday.
She's a Florida girl who's comfortable in a bikini and now 19-year-old model Kate Upton is on the cover of the 2012 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.
Liv Tyler, who has been the celebrity face of Givenchy for several years, stars in a new music video promoting the house's Very Irresistible Givenchy Electric Rose fragrance, set to go on sale in April. In the video above, Tyler sings INXS's -Need you tonight.

 Teen fashion blogger Tavi Gevinson -- who is appearing and singing in the animated short film "Cadaver" with Kathy Bates and Christopher Lloyd  -- performed Neil Young's "Heart of Gold" for an audience of bloggers and friends before a screening of the film Sunday night.
Kate Upton wears a tiny red-and-brown, sparkle-covered string bikini with a view of the waters of Australia behind her as she poses for the magazine cover, unveiled Monday.
"That was one of the first photos from the first shoot," the 19-year-old model said in a telephone interview before the big reveal. "It was my favorite swimsuit … I felt sexy in it but confident."
"In Florida, people walk around in their flip-flops, bikinis and jean shorts, so I'm very comfortable in a bathing suit," she said.
The 2012 magazine cover is her second time appearing in the annual SI issue called the equivalent of the Super Bowl for models. Last year, Upton was chosen as rookie of the year.
"I have had a great year," she said. "For me, this is groundbreaking."
She wears a tiny red-and-brown, sparkle-covered string bikini with a view of the waters of Australia behind her as she poses for the magazine cover, which is scheduled to be unveiled on TV Monday night on "Late Show with David Letterman" on CBS.
"That was one of the first photos from the first shoot," she said in a telephone interview before the big reveal. "It was my favorite swimsuit. … I felt sexy in it but confident.
Upton, 5 feet 10, was born in Michigan but raised in Florida. Her hometown is Melbourne, on the state's east coast. She attended Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy.
Be sure to follow our coverage of New York Fashion Week. Our latest reviews look at Marc Jacobs, Billy Reid and Diane von Furstenberg. Continuing coverage of the best of the shows can be found on our All the Rage blog.
She’s a Florida girl who’s comfortable in a bikini, and now 19-year-old model Kate Upton is on the cover of the 2012 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.
She wears a tiny red-and-brown, sparkle-covered string bikini with a view of the waters of Australia behind her as she poses for the magazine cover, which was unveiled on TV Monday night on Late Show with David Letterman on CBS.
The 2012 magazine cover is Upton’s second time appearing in the annual SI issue that’s the equivalent of the Super Bowl for models. Last year, when Irina Shayk was on the cover, Upton was chosen as rookie of the year.

Top heavy model Kate Upton is the odds on favorite to grace the cover of the new Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, which will be revealed next Monday and why are you still reading this and not clicking on all the pictures?

For anyone overly upset that Punxsutawney Phil recently predicted six more weeks of winter, let us offer five very welcome -- and very lovely -- signs that summer will be here before you can say "body paint."
Three notable female athletes appear in the increasingly popular Body Paint feature. The 2012 group of painted ladies includes U.S. soccer player Alex Morgan, U.S. Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin and golfer Natalie Gulbis.
Along with Swimsuit 2012 cover girl Kate Upton, Bar Refaeli returns to SI in 2012. The Israeli beauty graces a feature dubbed "Bar & the Boys" that includes photographs of her with U.S. Olympic gold medalist swimmer Michael Phelps, Lob City point guard Chris Paul and tennis superstar Rafael Nadal.