Finance History | 44 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, 28 February 2006 — Corporate Disclosure Joined Berkshire

On 28 February 2006, Berkshire Hathaway completed its acquisition of Business Wire, a distributor of corporate news, multimedia and regulatory filings. Berkshire did not disclose the purchase price, so the public record supports the date and business description without supporting a reliable transaction value. Business Wire occupied a narrow but important place between companies and markets. It accepted time-sensitive announcements and delivered them to news organizations, investors, online services and regulatory channels. The service produced value through distribution, speed and trust rather than by taking investment risk. A company releasing earnings or a material event needed its information to reach intended audiences accurately and at the prescribed time. Network breadth mattered because one submission could move through many outlets, while an established workflow reduced the cost of building separate connections. More recipients increased utility for issuers, and more issuing clients made the feed more useful to recipients. That network also concentrated operational responsibility. A delay, security failure or formatting error could affect trading decisions and regulatory compliance, making resilient systems and careful controls essential to the franchise. The acquisition added a market-infrastructure business to Berkshire's decentralized group. Business Wire could continue serving clients under its own management while Berkshire supplied a permanent owner with no need to combine its newsroom and distribution systems with unrelated subsidiaries. Its economics differed from those of Berkshire's insurers and manufacturers. Physical inventory was limited, but technology spending, cyber risk, customer relationships and credibility determined whether recurring distribution fees could remain durable. The closing date is sometimes obscured by the public announcement issued on 1 March, yet Berkshire's 2006 annual report and regulatory filing record the acquisition as effective on 28 February. The tower at 44 Montgomery Street anchors the transaction to Business Wire's San Francisco headquarters. The address represents a financial-information network in which dependable transmission and simultaneous access supported corporate disclosure under Berkshire ownership. Photo: Supercarwaar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.