Business Briefs: Buffet boosts quarter profits

photo Warren Buffett

Buffet boosts quarter profits

Warren Buffett's company says its second-quarter profit soared 41 percent on a significant investment gain from a stock-swap deal completed earlier this year.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said Friday that its net income grew to $6.4 billion, or $3,889 per Class A share. That's up from $4.5 billion, or $2,763 per Class A share, in the same quarter a year ago. Berkshire's revenue improved 11 percent to $49.76 billion from last year's $44.69 billion.

Berkshire is the parent company of Shaw Industries in Dalton, Ga., and Clayton Homes in Knoxville.


SBA meets contract goal

The government has reached its annual goal of giving small businesses 23 percent of contracts for the first time in eight years.

Small companies received 23.39 percent of federal contracts in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. The contracts were worth $83.1 billion. Small Business Administration head Maria Contreras-Sweet said all but five agencies met individual goals. Those five were the Departments of Defense, Energy, Homeland Security and Justice and the National Science Foundation. The government didn't meet its goal to give small businesses 36 percent of subcontracts.

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