Warren Buffett and Greg Abel walkthrough the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Assembly in Omaha, Nebraska on Could 3, 2025.
David A. Grogen | CNBC
Berkshire Hathaway reported a giant decline in its working earnings for the fourth quarter, due largely to weak point within the conglomerate’s insurance coverage enterprise.
Earnings from operations totaled $10.2 billion in This autumn. That is down greater than 29% from $14.56 billion within the year-earlier interval.
This was the ultimate quarter underneath Warren Buffett as CEO, who introduced he was stepping down on the annual shareholders assembly final Could. Greg Abel took the reins to start out 2026 and vowed in Berkshire’s annual letter accompanying Saturday’s outcomes to proceed the tradition Buffett constructed of economic energy and capital self-discipline. Buffett stays chairman.
Insurance coverage underwriting earnings dropped 54% to $1.56 billion from $3.41 billion a yr prior. Insurance coverage funding earnings slid almost 25% from to $3.1 billion from $4.088 billion.
For the full-year 2025, working earnings totaled $44.49 billion. That is down from $47.44 billion within the yr prior.
Income from insurance coverage underwriting got here in at $7.26 billion, down from $9 billion in 2024. Insurance coverage funding earnings for the yr eased to $12.5 billion from $13.6 billion a yr prior.
Total earnings, which embody positive factors or losses from the conglomerate’s inventory market investments, fell barely within the fourth quarter to $19.2 billion from $19.7 billion a yr prior. Nevertheless, these numbers have been impacted by a $4.5 billion impairment from Berkshire’s investments in Kraft Heinz and Occidental Petroleum. Funding positive factors got here in at $13.5 billion.
Full yr general earnings, in the meantime, fell to $66.97 billion from $89 billion a yr prior. To make certain, Berkshire at all times tells buyers to pay little consideration to its investments’ efficiency over quick time frames.
“The quantity of funding positive factors (losses) in any given quarter is normally meaningless and delivers figures for web earnings per share that may be extraordinarily deceptive to buyers who’ve little or no information of accounting guidelines,” the corporate stated in its earnings launch.
No buybacks, money hoard dips barely
Buffett once more avoided shopping for again Berkshire shares regardless of ending This autumn alongside the flatline. Regardless of the dearth of buybacks, the conglomerate’s money hoard did slip to $373.3 billion from a file of $381.6 billion within the third quarter.
Berkshire Hathaway Class A shares rose 10% in 2025, lagging the S&P 500’s 16.4 advance. Nonetheless, Buffett’s management has led to unparalleled wealth creation for shareholders.
Since 1965, Berkshire Hathaway has seen compounded annual positive factors of 19.7%. That is almost double the S&P 500’s compounded will increase in that point. Total positive factors for Berkshire exceed 6,000,000% over that interval, whereas the S&P 500 has gained simply 46,061%, together with dividends, Abel famous in his first annual letter to shareholders as CEO.