$200,000 a share Buffett\\\'s Berkshire hits record high

NEW YORK, Aug 15 (AFP): Shares in US investment star Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway group topped $200,000 apiece for the first time Thursday, less than eight years after breaking the $100,000 barrier.
Already the priciest on US markets, Berkshire shares got even more expensive for investors in a 7.5 per cent climb since the company announced record quarterly earnings at the start of August.
At the close of trade Berkshire A shares were up $3,500, or 1.8 per cent, to $202,850.00.
Buffett has become a legend for the performance of Berkshire, which has a large number of majority and minority investments in everything from small jewelry and furniture retailers to insurance giants Geico and General Re, chemicals group Lubrizol, Coca-Cola, IBM, American Express, Wells Fargo Bank and dozens of others.
The company's long-term gains have made Buffett the world's third wealthiest man, his fortune worth $65.9 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
After crossing the $100,000 line in October 2006, Berkshire shares have easily outperformed gauges like the S&P 500 broad-market index, up only 43 per cent since then, further burnishing Buffett's star as the "Oracle of Omaha," the Nebraska city where he lives.
S&P Dow Jones index analyst Howard Silverblatt rued not having bought Berkshire shares early on.
"Warren has returned 22.6 per cent per year compounded since it crossed $100 in May 1977 -- the month I started at S&P," Silverblatt said.
"I should have indexed my pay check against it-I would be making almost half-a-million dollars a week.