Finance History | CORT, 18 February 2000 — US$386 Million Bought a National Furniture-Rental Network

On 18 February 2000, Berkshire Hathaway's Wesco Financial subsidiary completed the acquisition of CORT Business Services for approximately US$386 million in 2000 dollars paid in cash. Wesco, then 80.1 percent owned indirectly by Berkshire, placed CORT inside the wider Berkshire group while retaining a separate corporate ownership path. CORT was a national provider of rental furniture, accessories and related services in the rent-to-rent segment. Its customers could furnish offices, apartments or temporary accommodations without committing capital to permanent ownership, creating demand tied to mobility, project work and short occupancy periods. The model produced recurring rental revenue but required CORT to purchase, deliver, retrieve, refurbish and redeploy physical inventory across a broad branch network. Utilization therefore mattered as much as the stated rental rate because furniture waiting in a warehouse earned nothing while still consuming capital and storage space. Fleet routing, damage, collection risk and the resale value of used inventory added operating variables that a conventional furniture retailer did not face in the same way. Paying cash avoided issuing Berkshire shares and left existing owners' percentage claims unchanged, but it placed the full acquisition cost at risk if future rental demand or asset utilization weakened. The purchase also demonstrated that Berkshire's acquisition strategy could extend beyond consumer brands into service businesses built around logistics and reusable assets. CORT remained operationally distinct, allowing managers familiar with local rental demand and inventory cycles to make decisions without combining the company with Berkshire's furniture retailers. That separation preserved accountability because CORT's results could be judged against the capital committed to rental inventory rather than blended into a broader retail operation. The photographed Chicago showroom near Ohio and Dearborn Streets anchors the acquisition to a public customer-facing branch rather than to the 2000 closing location. Its displayed furniture represents the working assets behind the approximately US$386 million cash purchase in 2000 dollars: items expected to generate revenue through repeated rentals, returns and redeployment. Photo: David Wilson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.