While investors have been fretting over the direction of interest rates, the rise in crude oil prices, the state of the US consumer and any number of other things in recent weeks, the B class shares in investment giant Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B:NYSE) have sailed serenely to a new all-time high of $363 almost completely undetected.Since 1965, when Warren Buffett – the so-called Sage of Omaha – took control of the business, shareholders have enjoyed a gain in Berkshire’s A shares of a mind-blowing 4,400,000% or an average compound annual return of 19.8% compared with 9.9% for the S&P 500 index.

Just this year, Berkshire’s B class shares have risen almost a quarter from their mid-March low of $293, even though the group’s biggest holding – in iPhone and computer maker Apple (AAPL:NASDAQ) – has been trading sideways for several months.

True to form, Buffett ignores the hoopla, preferring to quietly clip the coupons on Berkshire’s vast investment portfolio, which includes big dividend payers like Chevron (CVX:NYSE), Citigroup (C:NYSE) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ:NYSE), and reinvest the proceeds in buying back its own stock.

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