Berkshire Hathaway published its second-quarter results on Saturday, August 8, and they bear the first clear imprint of the new chief executive: after years of accumulation, the conglomerate's cash pile finally shrank.
Cash and equivalents fell to $365.5 billion from nearly $400 billion at the end of March. During the quarter Berkshire invested $10 billion in Alphabet, Google's parent company, added more than $24 billion in commercial, industrial and other stocks to its portfolio and bought back about $4.5 billion of its own shares.
The buyback came in at the low end of the $5 billion to $11 billion range that Buffett watchers had expected after the announcement of Warren Buffett's annual charitable donations in July; most of the repurchases were executed in June. In the first quarter, by contrast, Berkshire had repurchased only about $234 million of its stock. Between 2018 and 2024 the company bought back $78 billion of its own shares. Berkshire repurchases stock only when Abel and chairman Warren Buffett believe it trades below its intrinsic value, and it does not commit to a fixed amount; purchases may now slow, as the stock hit a new 52-week high on Thursday, August 6.
Net income more than doubled to $25.667 billion, or $17,868.44 per Class A share, from $12.37 billion, or $8,600.89 per Class A share, a year earlier. The result was boosted by a large paper gain on the value of the investment portfolio and by lapping the $3.8 billion writedown of the Kraft Foods stake booked in the same period last year.
Operating earnings, the measure Warren Buffett has long urged investors to focus on because it excludes investment results, rose 16 percent to $12.983 billion, or $9,038.30 per Class A share, from $11.16 billion, or $7,759.58 per Class A share, a year earlier.
The earnings report does not name the stocks added to the portfolio beyond the Alphabet investment; that detail is expected in a separate filing later this month. The $6.8 billion acquisition of homebuilder Taylor Morrison closed only in July and is not reflected in the quarterly figures. Abel took over as CEO in January, when Buffett retired after six decades at the helm; Buffett remains chairman. The Omaha, Nebraska-based group owns Geico, the BNSF railway, a cluster of utilities and manufacturers such as Precision Castparts and See's Candy.
Sources
- Dnyuz (AP/Fortune): https://dnyuz.com/2026/08/08/berkshire-hathaway-finally-spends-massive-cash-pile-buying-10-billion-in-alphabet-stock-and-repurchasing-4-5-billion-in-shares/
- The Motley Fool: https://www.fool.com/investing/2026/08/08/warren-buffett-abel-366-billion-warning-to-wall-st/
