Berkshire has created an insurance structure that did not exist when Ajit Jain joined in 1986.

Judge as of 2024-05-04 whether Berkshire's insurance operations had, by then, a structure (for example the National Indemnity/Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group super-cat and large-reinsurance operation, its scale of float, and its capital base) that did not exist when Ajit Jain joined Berkshire in 1986. True: the records show such a structure was built after 1986 and was absent in 1986, and Jain joined in 1986. Mostly true: the structure was substantially new after 1986 but some parts existed earlier, or Jain's start date differs by about a year. Mixed: a large part of the structure described already existed in 1986. Mostly false: the insurance structure was largely in place in 1986, with only modest later changes. False: the evidence shows the structure existed essentially unchanged in 1986.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 2014 Letter Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Own record

   “other and better advantage came. Ajit Jain created out of nothing an immense reinsurance business that produced both a huge “float” and a large underwriting gain.”

2. E2 2014 Letter Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Own record

   “Early in 1967, I had Berkshire pay $8.6 million to buy National Indemnity Company (“NICO”), a small but promising Omaha-based insurer.”

3. E3 2014 Letter Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Own record

   “During that 12-year stretch, our float – money that doesn’t belong to us but that we can invest for Berkshire’s benefit – has grown from $41 billion to $84 billion.”

4. E4 2014 Letter Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Own record

   “First by float size is the Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group, managed by Ajit Jain.”

5. E5 Berkshire Hathaway 2014 shareholder letter (PDF; no title shown on page) Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Own record

   “Berkshire’s huge and growing insurance operation again operated at an underwriting profit in 2014 – that makes 12 years in a row – and increased its float. During that 12-year stretch, our float – money that doesn’t belong to us but that we can invest for Berkshire’s benefit – has grown from $41 billion to $84 billion.”

6. E6 Berkshire Hathaway 2014 shareholder letter (PDF; no title shown on page) Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Own record

   “This initiative took us into commercial insurance, where we were instantly welcomed by both major insurance brokers and corporate risk managers throughout America. Previously, we had written only a few specialized lines of commercial insurance.”

7. E7 Berkshire Hathaway 2014 shareholder letter (PDF; no title shown on page) Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Own record

   “Let’s look first at insurance, Berkshire’s core operation. That industry has been the engine that has propelled our expansion since 1967, when we acquired National Indemnity and its sister company, National Fire & Marine, for $8.6 million.”

8. E8 Ajit Jain gets more praise from his billionaire boss Warren Buffett Global Indian Times · 28 February 2022

   “Much of our huge value creation in insurance,” Buffett wrote, “is attributable to Berkshire’s good luck in my 1986 hiring of Ajit Jain.”

9. E9 warren-buffett-wisdom/wiki/people/ajit-jain.md at main · innolight/warren-buffett-wisdom GitHub (innolight/warren-buffett-wisdom wiki)

   “From a standing start in 1985, Ajit has created an insurance business with float of $30 billion and significant underwriting profits, a feat that no CEO of any other insurer has come close to matching.”

10. E10 warren-buffett-wisdom/wiki/people/ajit-jain.md at main · innolight/warren-buffett-wisdom GitHub (innolight/warren-buffett-wisdom wiki)

    “By 1999, Jain's reinsurance operation had generated $6.3 billion of float — built from scratch since 1986 — with cumulative underwriting *profit*.”

11. E11 warren-buffett-wisdom/wiki/people/ajit-jain.md at main · innolight/warren-buffett-wisdom GitHub (innolight/warren-buffett-wisdom wiki)

    “Mike Goldberg, with special help from Ajit Jain, Dinos Iordanou, and the National Indemnity managerial team, has positioned us well in that respect.”

Berkshire's 2014 letter says Ajit Jain built an immense reinsurance business "out of nothing" (E1). It names the Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group, which Jain manages, as the company's largest insurer by float (E4). It also reports float growing from $41 billion to $84 billion over the 12 years to 2014 (E5). Secondary sources say Jain was hired in 1986 (E8) and that his reinsurance operation was built from scratch from that point (E10). One of them, however, gives 1985 as the start (E9). Some of the base was already in place before 1986: Berkshire had owned National Indemnity since 1967 (E2, E7). So the structure was mostly new after 1986, but not entirely, and Jain's start date differs by about a year between sources.