General Foods

Jell-O shares your justified pride in this fine accomplishment.

Signed, Clarence Francis, President General Foods, Makers of Jell-O.

Well, thanks, Don.

I'm very, very happy about it.

It is a testament to the sheer scale of the program's influence.

The Benny program created such an astronomical consumer demand for Jell-O that when strict wartime sugar rationing went into effect, General Foods realized they could not physically manufacture enough of the product to meet the civilian demand generated by the show while also supplying military troops.

That is just insane.

The advertisements were literally too effective for a wartime economy.

In 10 seconds, it will be 1245 Central Standard Time, and now for the World Series baseball game.

We wish to thank H. Fenrich Incorporated for their courtesy in relinquishing part of the time for their program, and the Radio Corporation of America, the General Foods Corporation, makers of Diamond Crystal Salt, the sponsors of the Bicycle Party program, and the Pro-Care Laboratories for their courtesy in relinquishing the time for their programs, usually heard over some of these stations, in order that the National Broadcasting Company may bring you a description of the World Series baseball game.

We take you now to the Polo Grounds.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

This is George Hicks speaking from New York.

These are programs of the National Broadcasting Company.

We wish to thank H. Fendrick Incorporated, the Radio Corporation of America, the General Foods Corporation, makers of Diamond Crystal Salt, the sponsors of the Bicycle Party Program, and the Procur

Laboratories for their courtesy in relinquishing the time

Furthermore, amortization of goodwill is not charged against the specific businesses, but, for reasons outlined in the appendix to my letter in the 1983 annual report, is set forth as a separate item.

Berkshire's share of operating earnings after tax rose to about $70 million in 1984 from about $48.6 million in 1983, driven mainly by sharply higher investment income in the insurance group and stronger results at the Buffalo News and Nebraska Furniture Mart, partly offset by a larger underwriting loss, while total net earnings, including gains from sales of securities and a special general foods distribution, increased.

came to about $149 million, compared with about $112 million the year before.

Sharp-eyed shareholders will notice that the amount of the special GEICO distribution and its location in the table have been changed from the presentation of last year Though they reclassify and reduce accounting earnings, the changes are entirely of form, not of substance.

Additionally, we emphasized the transaction to our auditors, Pete Marwick, Mitchell & Company.

Both the Omaha office of Pete Marwick and the Reviewing Chicago partner, without objection, concurred with our dividend presentation.

In 1984, we had a virtually identical transaction with General Foods.

The only difference was that General Foods repurchased its stock over a period of time in the open market, whereas GEICO had made a one-shot tender offer.