The announcement that Berkshire’s wholly owned subsidiary, MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, would acquire PacifiCorp seemed to indicate that Buffett had found an “elephant.” PacifiCorp was a leading, low-cost energy producer and distributor that served 1.6 million customers in six states in the western United States. Based in Portland, Oregon, PacifiCorp generated power through company-owned coal, hydrothermal, renewable wind power, gas-fired combustion, and geothermal facilities. The company had merged with Scottish Power in 1999. Exhibit 7 presents PacifiCorp’s most recent financial statements.