BYD Co. Ltd. is a publicly listed Chinese conglomerate manufacturing company headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It was founded by Wang Chuanfu in February 1995. The company has two major subsidiaries, BYD Automobile and BYD Electronic. BYD Company manufactures automobiles, buses, electric bicycles, trucks, forklifts, solar panels and rechargeable batteries.
It has grown to become a major manufacturer of automobiles (most notably full-electric and hybrid cars, buses, trucks, etc.), battery-powered bicycles, forklift, solar panels and rechargeable batteries (mobile phone batteries, electric vehicle batteries and renewable bulk storage). The name BYD is an abbreviation of “Build Your Dreams”.
Berkshire Hathaway made its first move to acquire BYD shares after the global financial crisis of 2008, stacking up $230 million worth of the stock at the time at an average price of HK$8 ($1.02).
