Berkshire Hathaway Inc. reported fourth-quarter net income dropped 18 percent in the quarter, and its chairman announced that "the party is over" for insurer's profit margins.

Warren Buffett, the company chair and chief executive officer, followed that news today by saying in a television interview that he was rescinding an offer to reinsure the municipal business of three major bond insurers.

Berkshire, the Omaha, Neb.-based financial holding company, home of GEICO, General Reinsurance and other insurance and non-insurance companies, reported net income dropped $636 million to $2.9 billion in the quarter but rose 20 percent, or $2.2 billion, to $13.2 billion for the year.

Recommended For You

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader

Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.