Berkshire Hathaway used to be a middling textile company. Now, as Warren Buffett prepares to pass on the helm after six decades, it is everything but.⁠ ⁠ Over the decades, the company has accumulated dozens of businesses that employ more than 392,000 people. Its vast portfolio of stock investments give it exposure to more. Some of the companies it owns are household names: Dairy Queen, Fruit of the Loom, See’s candy, Duracell batteries, the paint company Benjamin Moore.⁠ ⁠ Other subsidies operate under names that aren’t so recognizable, but their products are. Berkshire companies sell artificial turf for football fields, recreational vehicles and hotel shuttle buses, and diamond rings. There are cowboy boots and Garanimals-label baby clothing. One company rents out cubicles to offices; another designs and manufacturers flight simulators for pilots.⁠ ⁠ In recent years, though, Berkshire came to rely more heavily on what Buffett himself has called his “four giants”: an insurance empire; one of North America’s largest railroads; an energy behemoth; and a sizable stake in the world’s most valuable company, Apple.⁠ ⁠ These four holdings dominate Berkshire’s earnings and value and, in each their own way, come to symbolize Buffett’s investment philosophies and interests.⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.