The US investor is paying $US23 billion for the company that owns Heinz Wattie's. His partner in the deal is famous for zero budgeting - a process where every department in a company starts annual planning with no money, rather than its previous year's budget, then has to fight for every dollar.

It’s a sign of the times that even the world’s richest man appears to be in financial strife.

Bloomberg is reporting that Warren Buffett’s company Berkshire Hathaway is at risk of making massive losses after a series of share market bets by its billionaire owner.

The cost of protecting Berkshire Hathaway debt against default has almost tripled in two months, from 140 basis points to 415, meaning insuring $10 million of debt will cost $415,000 a year.