Extremely strong competitive position. Corporate culture focused on profits and price adequacy as opposed to market share. Extremely strong capitalization. Very strong operating performance. Extremely strong financial flexibility supported by uncorrelated and diversified noninsurance operations. Exposure to severe catastrophic losses. Relatively high proportion of common stocks in the investment portfolio. Subsidiary that is subject to about $6 billion of long-term claims payments assumed through retroactive reinsurance covers. Concerns about whether the corporate culture will be maintained following a management change, though no such changes are expected. The counterparty credit rating on Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK) is based on BRK's insurance operations' extremely strong capitalization, competitive position, and financial flexibility. In addition, BRK has improved its operating performance since 2001, though
