History of Berkshire Hathaway
The history of Berkshire Hathaway dates back to 1888, with The Hathaway Manufacturing Company, a thriving cotton milling business, located in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Hathaway was successful for several decades but after World War I the textile industry suffered a significant decline. In 1955, The Hathaway Company took a historic turn and merged with Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates, another cotton milling company. The new company thrived for some time but by the 1950s the company had fallen on hard times.
In 1962, Warren Buffett became involved with the company and eventually took control of Berkshire Hathaway. For some time the company stayed true to its core business but soon fell vulnerable to increasing foreign competition and discontinued its role in the textile business.
A Diverse Range of Businesses
In the late 1960s, Buffett ventured into the insurance business and purchased two Nebraska companies, National Indemnity and National Fire and Marine Insurance. This first investment in the insurance industry gave rise to the super-legend of today. In 1996, Buffett acquired GEICO General Insurance Company and the GEICO gecko soon became a national icon. In 2007, TTI, Inc. and Mouser Electronics became part of the Berkshire Hathaway Group. Today, Buffett's holdings include insurance and finance subsidiaries and a host of almost fifty businesses ranging from jewellery and furniture to manufactured homes.
Quick Facts
Mouser Electronics is a Berkshire Hathaway company. If you would like our parent company's annual reports or stock information, you may access Berkshire Hathaway annual reports at www.berkshirehathaway.com.
A list of Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary companies can be found here.
Check out Warren Buffett's candid comments at the 2018 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders Meeting.
Press Release
Our Story
What began as a small high school electronics programme by physics teacher, Jerry Mouser, in 1964 in El Cajon, California has grown to become what Mouser Electronics is today. This start-up, originally called Western Components, laid the groundwork from which Mouser Electronics was formed in 1973, the same year Glenn Smith joined the company and began his career with Mouser.
Ten years later, in 1983, Mouser Electronics moved its headquarters and distribution centre to Mansfield, Texas. The move placed Mouser in the middle of a growing high-tech industry in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Being only 30 minutes from DFW International Airport gave Mouser an important distribution advantage for serving North America and extending its reach worldwide.
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In January 2000, Mouser's success caught the attention of TTI, Inc., the world's leading authorised distributor specialist offering passive, connector, electromechanical and discrete components. Mouser became a TTI subsidiary and together, the two offer the ideal distribution solution for design engineers and production buyers in the electronics manufacturing industry. With Mouser's focus on new designs combined with TTI's expertise in volume distribution, the two companies provide the complete answer from the design chain to the supply chain™.
The success of the Mouser/TTI partnership caused Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway's Chairman of the Board, to take notice of the two companies. In March 2007, the acquisition by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. was finalised, positioning TTI and Mouser for the long-term. Both companies gained the added recognition and financial strength from one of the most successful companies in the world. Today, Mouser continues to grow globally, focusing on providing the widest selection of the newest products that gets innovative designs to market faster and easier.
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