Wesco Financial Corporation was an American diversified financial corporation headquartered in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

. Wesco was originally the holding company for Mutual Savings, a savings and loan association. Mutual Savings' thrift operations were sold to CenFed Bank in 1993. It was for a long time 80.1% owned by Blue Chip Stamps, which has become completely and fully owned by

Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Originally a textile manufacturer, the company transitioned into a conglomerate starting in 1965 under the management of c ...

, which is controlled by legendary investor Warren Buffett. Charlie Munger, the vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and Buffett's business partner, was CEO and chairman of Wesco from 1984 to 2011. Munger, formerly a practicing attorney, is known for his straight-shooting style and his conduct at the discontinued Wesco shareholder meetings in Pasadena, where he used to interact with the outside investors at considerable length. In June 2011, Berkshire Hathaway acquired the approximately 20% of Wesco that it did not already own, making it a wholly owned

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

of that company. Wesco Financial was previously likened to a miniature version of Berkshire Hathaway by certain observers, although Buffett and Munger cautioned investors that this was not an appropriate comparison. Like its parent company, Wesco provided insurance and reinsurance; it does so through subsidiaries Wesco-Financial Insurance Company and Kansas Bankers Surety. It also held shares in some of the same companies as Berkshire, like

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

Kraft Foods Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...

, and

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with a significant global presence. The company operates in 35 countries and serves over 70 million customers worldwide. It is a systemically important fi ...

. Controlling interests include CORT Business Services and Precision Steel Warehouse, which has steel service centers in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

Subsidiaries

Wesco did business in three major categories; insurance, furniture rental, and steel service. The following wholly owned subsidiaries handled most of Wesco's business: * Wesco-Financial Insurance, which was incorporated in 1985 and engages in the property and casualty insurance business. Wesco-Financial became part of National Indemnity. * Kansas Bankers Surety Company, which was incorporated in 1909, purchased by Wesco in 1996 and provides specialized insurance coverages for banks. Kansas Bankers Surety became part of Berkshire Hathaway Companies. * CORT Business Services Corporation, furniture rental. * Precision Steel Warehouse, Inc., a chain of steel service centers. Precision Steel was founded in 1940 and acquired by Wesco in 1979. * MS Property Company, which owns commercial real estate in Pasadena.

References

{{Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Financial services companies established in 1959 Financial services companies disestablished in 2011 Companies formerly listed on NYSE American Insurance companies of the United States 2011 mergers and acquisitions