ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Berkshire Hathaway

Berkshire Hathaway is like a really big piggy bank owned by a man named Warren Buffett. This piggy bank has a lot of money in it- like, billions and billions of dollars!

Warren Buffett is very smart with money and he uses this piggy bank to buy things called stocks. Stocks are little pieces of ownership in different companies. For example, if Berkshire Hathaway bought a stock in the candy company Hershey's, that means they own a little piece of Hershey's and they get to make some of the decisions for the company.

Warren Buffett and his team at Berkshire Hathaway are really picky about which stocks they buy. They only choose companies that they think will make a lot of money and that they believe in. They also try to buy these stocks when they're on sale, like when they're not worth as much money as they usually are.

But Berkshire Hathaway doesn't just buy stocks in other companies. They also own some companies outright- that means they own the whole thing! Some examples of companies they own are Dairy Queen, GEICO (you know, the company with the little gecko lizard in the commercials), and even part of Apple!

Now, because Berkshire Hathaway owns all of these different companies and stocks, they make a lot of money. And who gets that money? Well, mostly Warren Buffet and the other people who own shares of Berkshire Hathaway. But a lot of that money is also used to buy even more stocks and companies, so that Berkshire Hathaway can make even more money in the future. And that, my little friend, is why Berkshire Hathaway is such a big deal.