BerkshireHathaway profit falls on lower insurance income, Occidental writedown

Berkshire Hathaway said on Saturday operating profit fell in the fourth quarter, reflecting lower income from its insurance operations, and wrote down a longstanding investment in Occidental Petroleum. The quarter was Warren Buffett’s last as the conglomerate’s chief executive, a job now held by Greg Abel.Buffett remains chairman.Berkshire reported ending 2025 with $373.3 billion of cash, giving Abel the firepower to make the kind of major acquisitions that eluded Buffett over the last decade.The quarter was also the 13th in a row in which Berkshire sold more stocks than it bought, and the sixth straight with no share buybacks.Quarterly operating profit fell 30% to $10.2 billion, or about $7,092 per Class A share, from $14.53 billion a year earlier.Much of this came from a 38% drop in quarterly insurance profit.

Falling interest rates reduced income on Berkshire’s cash, while pricing pressures limited the willingness of the Geico auto insurer and reinsurance businesses to add customers.Net income fell 3% to $19.2 billion from $19.69 billion, as the writedown and lower operating profit offset the value of Berkshire’s holdings in Apple, American Express, and other stocks.For the full year, operating profit fell 6% to $44.49 billion, while net income fell 25% to $66.97 billion.Buffett had long urged investors to ignore fluctuations in Berkshire’s net income, which reflect accounting rules that require Berkshire to report gains and losses on stocks that Berkshire is not selling.In his first annual letter to Berkshire shareholders, Abel paid tribute to his mentor, calling Buffett a “remarkable CEO” and “arguably the greatest investor of all time” and pledging to maintain his discipline in investing Berkshire’s capital.“We are committed to strengthening the great legacy built by Warren Buffett and his business partner Charlie Munger, ensuring it endures through our commitment to excellence,” Abel wrote, referring to Berkshire’s ...