• Grocery distribution: Wholesale distributing of groceries and nonfood items (for example, McLane Company).
• Carpet and floor coverings: Manufacturing and distribution of carpet and floor coverings under a variety of brand names (for example, Shaw Industries).
Berkshire also owned an assortment of smaller businesses8 generating about $3 billion in revenues. Exhibit 2 gives a summary of revenues, operating profits, capital expenditures, depreciation, and assets for Berkshire’s various business segments. The company’s investment portfolio also included equity interests in numerous publicly traded companies, which are summarized in Exhibit 3. In addition, the company owned about $21.4 billion of foreign exchange contracts at year end, spread among 12 currencies. Prior to March 2002, neither Buffett nor Berkshire had ever traded in currencies, but Buffett had developed serious concerns about the United States’ large current account deficits, and he hoped that his currency bets would offset the growing pressure on the dollar