Columbus Dispatch - January 27, 2011 - NetJets, with headquarters at Port Columbus, returned to profitability in 2010 after a disappointing 2009. When the boss comes from across the country to visit, it's either a very bad sign or a good one.
For NetJets employees, the latter seems to be true. The Columbus-based private jet operator, owned by Berkshire Hathaway, got a visit from the boss, Warren Buffett, on Sunday as the company kicked off its second annual managers meeting at the Hilton at Easton.
Sokol declined to give exact numbers related to NetJets' performance ahead of the expected annual letter from Buffett in late February that likely will give more detail on the results. NetJets customers, who buy "shares" of private jets allowing a certain amount of use per year, used their planes 7 percent more last year. That's viewed as a positive sign that business is ticking up.
NetJets reported a gain of slightly more than 100 customers last year, Sokol said. The company lost customers in 2009. One goal NetJets didn't manage to achieve was an increase in planes under management. There were two fewer planes last year than the year before, Sokol said, because some customers who bought in around the height of the market decided to reduce their ownership stake when their five-year contracts were up. Still, Sokol said he is pleased that the business has returned to profitability and the economy is showing at least modest signs of improvement. NetJets is on track with its plans to begin work on a new headquarters building at Port Columbus by this spring, he said.
And Buffett - a notoriously hands-off owner who rarely visits Columbus - apparently had fun visiting the company's command center at Port Columbus, where NetJets controls flights across the country. "People told me they were impressed that he was just walking around, talking to people and pushing buttons," Sokol said, then joked: "That part (pushing buttons) worried me a little."
