Notes payable and other borrowings (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2016

Insurance and Other [Member]

Schedule of short and long term outstanding debt disclosure

Notes payable and other borrowings are summarized below (in millions). The weighted average interest rates and maturity date ranges shown in the following tables are based on borrowings as of March 31, 2016.

	Weighted Average Interest Rate	March 31, 2016		December 31, 2015
Insurance and other:
Issued by Berkshire due 2016-2047	2.2%	$	18,184	$	9,799
Short-term subsidiary borrowings	1.9%		2,565		1,989
Other subsidiary borrowings due 2016-2044	3.9%		7,324		2,811
		$	28,073	$	14,599

Finance and Financial Products [Member]

Schedule of short and long term outstanding debt disclosure

	Weighted Average Interest Rate	March 31, 2016		December 31, 2015
Finance and financial products:
Issued by Berkshire Hathaway Finance Corporation (“BHFC”) due 2016-2043	2.5%	$	14,172	$	10,679
Issued by other subsidiaries due 2016-2036	5.0%		1,184		1,272
		$	15,356	$	11,951

Railroad, Utilities and Energy [Member]

Schedule of short and long term outstanding debt disclosure

	Weighted Average Interest Rate	March 31, 2016		December 31, 2015
Railroad, utilities and energy:
Issued by Berkshire Hathaway Energy Company (“BHE”) and its subsidiaries:
BHE senior unsecured debt due 2017-2045	5.1%	$	7,815	$	7,814
Subsidiary and other debt due 2016-2064	4.8%		28,777		28,188
Issued by BNSF due 2016-2097	4.9%		21,518		21,737
		$	58,110	$	57,739