Berkshire’s Third-Quarter Net Profit Falls 28%, but Shares Hit a Record High
Berkshire Hathaway’s third-quarter 2026 net profit fell 28% year over year and operating profit fell 6%, but the company stepped up share buybacks and its stock hit a record high last week. It held $356.9 billion in cash and cash equivalents at the end of September.
Berkshire Hathaway’s third-quarter net profit fell 28% year over year to $22.11 billion, while operating profit declined 6% to $12.71 billion. Weaker insurance operations and lower returns on common stock investments weighed on profit. Revenue rose 11% to $105.65 billion, marking a second consecutive quarter of double-digit growth.
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel (center) with former CEO Warren Buffett (right).（VietVance）
The company repurchased $9.6 billion of its shares in the third quarter and about $2 billion more in October; buybacks totaled $4.8 billion in the first half of the year. Under current CEO Greg Abel, who succeeded Warren Buffett, the company has continued using cash to repurchase shares. At the end of September, it held $356.9 billion in cash and cash equivalents, down from $380.2 billion six months earlier.
Despite the profit decline, Berkshire shares reached a record high last week. Since the end of September, the stock has outperformed the S&P 500 by more than 18 percentage points. At the close on November 6, Berkshire’s Class B shares traded above $572, giving the company a market value of about $1.22 trillion; the shares have risen nearly 5% this year.
Berkshire said factors including tariffs and armed conflicts have created significant economic and geopolitical uncertainty, while demand has been weak at some of its retail businesses. Third-quarter insurance profit fell 26%, including a 43% decline in underwriting profit.
Source: VietVance
