Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation

Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation (Kaiser Aluminum) was a major American industrial company that was a significant common stock holding for Berkshire Hathaway in the late 1970s.

📝 The Investment

• Portfolio Concentration: Listed in the 1978 letter as a major holding with a position size of over $18 million.
• Position (1978): Berkshire held 1,066,934 shares with a cost of $18.1 million and a market value of $18.7 million.
• Context: Unlike many of Buffett's media and insurance holdings, Kaiser represented a more traditional capital-intensive industrial business. However, during the inflationary 1970s, many institutional investors had abandoned industrials, creating "bargain" pricing opportunities that fit Buffett's value-oriented criteria.

🔗 Connections

• Company: SAFECO Corporation (Portfolio peer)
• Source: 1978 Letter