“But Jason,” you may be asking, “is NetJets even a publicly traded company?” Well, no but yes. You see NetJets is actually a wholly-owned business of Warren Buffett’s baby, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B) and there, my friend, is the investing angle.
I’m sure you all know about Berkshire Hathaway at this point. A collection of wholly-owned businesses ranging from insurance companies and energy companies to railroads and retail, Berkshire Hathaway is essentially a cross-section of the US economy. It also owns a portfolio of publicly traded companies like Coca Cola (NYSE: KO), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and even Deere and Co. (NYSE: DE).
Investing in Berkshire Hathaway is essentially like investing in a broad index fund with awesome management. Buffett and Vice-chairman Charlie Munger have built an outstanding culture that should continue to prosper long after they step down thanks to hires like Ajit Jain, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler. And with shares hovering between 1.3 and 1.4 times book value today they’re a reasonable enough consideration for investors with a longer time horizon. It’s also worth noting that Buffett has set 1.2 times book value as the floor at which they will start buying back their own shares.
Any which way you cut it, Berkshire Hathaway is one of the highest quality businesses in the public markets today and investors interested in owning shares should plan on holding them for many years to come.
Disclosure: I own shares of Berkshire Hathaway B-shares.
Risk: Low