I'd assume that Buffet's thought process - correct in my opinion - is that having a fancy website won't get him anything, and will only cost him money to create and maintain.
Unlike most companies, Warren Buffet doesn't care if you buy his stock. The last close of BRK.A is at $99,000 and has an average volume of about 800 - meaning that if you hold that stock, you're almost certainly an institutional investor who's in it for the long run, and who know perfectly well what the company is like. For similar reasons, he doesn't need to project any images of modernity or customer-friendliness, if for no other reason than BRK has no real customers.
Most companies make fancy web pages to appeal to customers and inform them, to project a positive image for investors, or to provide a service. All Berkshire's web page is there for is to distribute some documents, most of which are updated annually or so. Hence no need for something fancy.
While you're there, have a read of the Owner's Manual and one of the annual reports, which are written as if you're friends with Warren Buffet and he's having a casual conversation with you about how business is going. He tells stories, he talks about individuals who have done well this year - but by the end you have a very good idea about how the company is doing, and you've probably learned something about finance (I don't have any shares in the company and I always read them). Also funny is the descriptions of the BRK annual meetings - known as _Woodstock for Capitalists_ - and the associated sales events from all the Berkshire companies.
They discussed his website on a recent BBC documentary (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nn7vs) at 00:32:37 (transcribed below). The whole documentary is certainly worth watching.
Davis:
"Berkshire Hathaway is a massive company which feels like a family firm.
All the usual corporate vanities are absent and not a cent is wasted. Take a
look at the Berkshire Hathaway website here. To call it low key would be to put it
kindly, it looks though it's from about 1994, no-frills. All the financial data
is here but they haven't even got around to even uploading a photo. And
that's all very much Warren Buffets style - why waste money on a designer.
Buffet insists his website does the job."
Buffet:
"I think it's what we are, I mean, it's factual."
Davis:
"You could put a little picture of something on there perhaps, or."
Buffet:
"I want people to get facts about Berkshire and, you know, I don't
really think it makes any difference what I look like."
---
Davis:
"Buffets idiosyncratic style is not just charming, it's a financial asset,
it saves time and money..."
In addition, Buffet likes consumer monopolies -- brands people recognize with a product or service. GEICO and Dairy Queen, Orange Julius, The Pampered Chef -- all recognizable brands and ones people don't associate with BH. This is a good thing. To make Berkshire Hathaway the center of attention dilutes a consumer monopoly.
When holding companies take it on as a strategy, it's a flash in the pan. Yum! Brands' (KFC, Pizza Hut, Long John Silver's) Kentucky Derby sponsorship is a great example.
I'm not going to Pizza Hut to be Yum!'s patron. I'm going there for pizza and I don't like Domino's.
Likewise, I'm not going to Dairy Queen because I like Berkshire Hathaway.
Berkshire Hathaway has no business building a consumer brand. And yet Berkshire's consumer brand is Warren Buffet.
Why did this get down-voted? It makes a good point, & one that is well known among followers of Buffet's trading philosophy; namely the bit about Berkshire investing in consumer monopolies or well-known brands. Buffet took this philosophy from Graham, the author of the Intelligent Investor.
Sure right about his thought process and his disinterest of allocating capital to a snazzy website.
BRK.B is a little more accessible at 1/30th the price of A shares, $3283 now. In his book Snowball, he talks about the waste of money to do share splits.
Unlike most companies, Warren Buffet doesn't care if you buy his stock. The last close of BRK.A is at $99,000 and has an average volume of about 800 - meaning that if you hold that stock, you're almost certainly an institutional investor who's in it for the long run, and who know perfectly well what the company is like. For similar reasons, he doesn't need to project any images of modernity or customer-friendliness, if for no other reason than BRK has no real customers.
Most companies make fancy web pages to appeal to customers and inform them, to project a positive image for investors, or to provide a service. All Berkshire's web page is there for is to distribute some documents, most of which are updated annually or so. Hence no need for something fancy.
While you're there, have a read of the Owner's Manual and one of the annual reports, which are written as if you're friends with Warren Buffet and he's having a casual conversation with you about how business is going. He tells stories, he talks about individuals who have done well this year - but by the end you have a very good idea about how the company is doing, and you've probably learned something about finance (I don't have any shares in the company and I always read them). Also funny is the descriptions of the BRK annual meetings - known as _Woodstock for Capitalists_ - and the associated sales events from all the Berkshire companies.