Berkshire Hathaway quarterly net income falls 77%

Marketwatch Nov 7 News . Operating earnings, which exclude net realized investment gains and losses, were $2.07 billion, or $1,335 per Class A share, down 19% from the same period in 2007.

Berkshire's large insurance businesses generated an underwriting profit of $81 million in the latest third quarter, down from $486 million last year.

Hurricanes Gustav and Ike left Berkshire's insurance businesses with estimated losses of roughly $1.05 billion in the third quarter, the company said. Price competition, which has steadily increased in insurance markets in the past two years, also dented profit, it added.

Berkshire, run by Warren Buffett, incurred $296 million of net investment losses in the quarter, versus net investment gains of more than $3 billion a year earlier.

Obama wants Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff

President-elect, Barack Obama is building his team. He has asked Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff. Obama also talks frequently to Warren Buffet about the fianancial crisis and the economy. For the Treasury post the names of Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker are circulating.
Some names on Obama's transition team to prepare for the take over are: Valerie Jarrett, a close friend of Obama, Pete Rouse, his U.S. Senate chief of staff and John Podesta, former chief of staff to Bill Clinton.