Due to the losses on derivative contracts, tied to the stock market, bringing about a mammoth $10.9 billion plunge in its fourth-quarter net income, Berkshire Hathaway Inc - Warren Buffett's insurance and investment company - just about managed to break even.

The fourth quarter results of the firm - which characteristically gets about half its profit from insurance operations - received a blow in the form of $4.61 billion of pretax losses on about 251 derivative bets, which were mostly connected to stock market indices and the creditworthiness of higher-risk "junk" bonds.

In its longest series of quarterly drops during the past nearly 17-year span, Berkshire actually reported a fifth-straight profit decline, this time a whopping 96 percent - from $2.95 billion the year before to $117 million! In fact, the losses suffered in the fourth quarter were nearly two times those in the earlier nine months of the year.

The annual report of the Omaha, Nebraska-based firm showed a 12 percent fall in revenue to $24.59 billion; and the company's net worth in 2008-end dropping to $109.27 billion from $120.73 billion a year earlier.

Berkshire Chairman, CEO and head of investing, Warren Buffett, 78, offered a dismal outlook for the economy this year, writing to the shareholders: "The economy will be in shambles throughout 2009 - and for that matter, probably well beyond."