Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutesGlobal Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis© 2011 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. Continue reading →

There are several reasons this is an exceptionally good time to be a small business owner.The first: The fundamental opportunity to grow a business asset value over time, as opposed to receiving a paycheck over time that cannot be sold. Just as Warren Buffett views a stock purchase as the acquisition of an “equity bond” with an expanding coupon, a business owner can view the business as a compounding engine in which earnings can be reinvested at potential high rates of return resulting in expanded value over time. Proof in the Pudding Typically, three approaches can be used to fix a price tag on a business and prove the expansion of value: the asset-based approach, the comparable market analysis approach and the earnings approach. Think ... Continue reading →

Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutesGlobal Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis© 2011 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. Continue reading →

Getty ImagesWarren BuffettWarren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has been busy buying stocks, including a new stake in General Motors.Berkshire's just-released 13-F filing with the SEC shows two new stocks were added to its portfolio during the first quarter of the year, and stakes were increased for another seven companies.It also appears Berkshire was doing even more buying in the first three months of the year that it hasn't disclosed in this filing. It says that "confidential information has been omitted ... and filed separately" with the SEC.That's often a sign Buffett is accumulating a large stake in a company but doesn't want copycats to drive up the price until he's done. Berkshire added a 10 million share position in General Motors [GM Loading... () ], worth ... Continue reading →

Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutesGlobal Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis© 2012 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. Continue reading →

The organizers of the 13th-annual charity auction of a steak lunch with Warren Buffett are hoping the winning bid will top $2 million for the fifth-straight year.The man who won the previous two auctions, however, presumably won't be participating.Ted Weschler is now working for Buffett as a Berkshire Hathaway portfolio manager.Online bidding begins June 3 at 10:30 p.m. EDT and ends June 8 at 10:30 p.m. EDT. Proceeds go to San Francisco's Glide Foundation. It describes its mission as creating a "radically inclusive, just and loving community mobilized to alleviate suffering and break the cycles of poverty and marginalization."Buffett was introduced to Glide by his first wife, Susan, and calls it "maybe the most effective organization I’ve seen for people down on their luck."Bidders need ... Continue reading →

WARREN BUFFETT will host a lunch to benefit GLIDE and its programs. The lunch will be up for bid on eBay beginning June 3, 2012 at 7:30 pm PDT and close June 8, 2012 at 7:30 pm PDT. Mr. Buffett will dine with the winning bidder and up to seven friends at a location TBD on a mutually agreed upon date. All bidders must pre-qualify. The opening bid is $25,000. 100% of proceeds from the winning bid will benefit GLIDE, one of the leading social service institutions working to alleviate human suffering and poverty in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mr. Buffett has described GLIDE as “...maybe the most effective organization I’ve seen for people down on their luck.It takes people who have hit bottom ... Continue reading →

Coty has raised its bid for Avon Products, with the backing of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, but the beauty products company said it would withdraw the offer if Avon did not enter into talks by the close of business on May 14, according to a letter Avon made public on Thursday. APCoty, maker of Stetson aftershave and Beyoncé fragrances, raised its offer to $24.75 per share, or $10.65 billion. In April, it had offered to buy Avon for $23.25 per share. Avon's board said it would consider Coty's latest bid "in due course." In the letter, dated May 9, Coty Chairman Bart Becht said equity financing sources include Coty's main shareholder, Joh. A. Benckiser, BOT Capital Partners and some of its limited partners, and Berkshire ... Continue reading →