Berkshire Hathaway Warren Buffett

Conglomerate spends $51.1bn putting cash pile to work as financial markets slide.

Berkshire Hathaway has increased its stake in oil with $26 billion invested in Chevron and a multibillion-dollar stake in Occidental Petroleum.

But part of what keeps her coming back year after year is the chance to reconnect with friends and fellow investors she’s met at past meetings. Buffett says that Berkshire’s operating earnings are a better measure of the company’s performance because they exclude investment gains and losses. In addition to investments, Berkshire Hathaway owns more than 90 businesses outright, including BNSF railroad, several major utilities, Geico insurance and an assortment of manufacturing and retail companies. Edward Jones analyst Jim Shanahan said that with the Chevron and Occidental investments combined Berkshire now has more than $40 billion invested in the oil sector. That accounted for most of the swing in net earnings. They never sold the shares, which now sell for nearly $500,000 apiece. Berkshire said it earned $5.46 billion, or $3.702 per Class A share, during the quarter. However, he hasn’t disclosed all of his stock purchases yet, so it’s not immediately clear everything Berkshire invested in this year Buffett also spent $3.2 billion repurchasing Berkshire stock. But Berkshire said the value of its investments shrunk by $1.58 billion in the first quarter when a year ago that paper estimate of its investments grew by $4.7 billion. But Berkshire did say in its quarterly report that its stake in oil giant Chevron ballooned to $26 billion by the end of the quarter, up from $4.5 billion at the beginning of the year, to make it one of the company’s four largest investments. But the key change during the quarter was that Berkshire’s mountain of cash shrank to $106 billion from $147 billion at the beginning of the year as it invested $51 billion in equities.

OMAHA, Neb.—The Berkshire Hathaway BRK.A –2.94% annual shareholders meeting returned to a live, in-person format for 2022, after a two-year pandemic hiatus ...

OMAHA, Neb.—The Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting returned to a live, in-person format for 2022, after a two-year pandemic hiatus moved the so-called “Woodstock for Capitalists” online. Tens of thousands of Buffett devotees were back in Omaha to hear from the legendary investor and Berkshire Hathaway (ticker: BRK.A, BRK.B)... Warren Buffett addressed the company’s massive stock purchases in the first quarter, the performance of its collection of businesses, and added his signature folksy anecdotes and life advice.

Warren Buffett gave Berkshire Hathaway investors a few details of how he spent more than $50 billion earlier this year and again reassured them that the ...

But part of what keeps her coming back year after year is the chance to reconnect with friends and fellow investors she’s met at past meetings. Buffett says that Berkshire's operating earnings are a better measure of the company's performance because they exclude investment gains and losses. Berkshire and Buffett, who controls 32% of the vote, opposed all the proposals partly because the company is so decentralized that it requires few centralized reports. He said all of Berkshire's companies are paying extraordinarily higher prices for raw materials and products, but inflation should have been expected after all the money the government sent out during the pandemic. They never sold the shares, which now sell for nearly $500,000 apiece. Berkshire also spent billions buying up 14% of Occidental Petroleum's shares in the first half of March, and added to its already massive investment in Apple stock. That’s down from $11.7 billion, or $7.638 per Class A share, a year ago. Both Buffett and his investing partner, Charlie Munger, reiterated their past criticisms of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin because they don't produce anything. “Berkshire is built to forever. Munger sat in a wheelchair during Saturday's meeting. There is no finish point,” Buffett said. Warren Buffett gave Berkshire Hathaway investors a few details of how he spent more than $50 billion earlier this year and again reassured them that the company he built will endure long after the 91-year-old billionaire is gone

Shareholders reject proposals for independent chair and greater disclosure of company's climate-related risks.

He owns approximately 16% of Berkshire’s stock. By approximately 3-to-1 margins shareholders also rejected proposals to have the company disclose more about the climate-related risks, greenhouse gas emissions and diversity efforts in its dozens of businesses. Berkshire Hathaway Inc shareholders on Saturday rejected proposals to have an independent chair replace W arren Buffett, and require his company to disclose more about its climate-related risks and efforts to improve diversity.

The conglomerate's large stock portfolio lost nearly $1.6 billion in the first three months of the year. But profits at its railroad, manufacturing and ...

What’s more, a number of large investors, including the giant California Public Employees Retirement Fund, backed a shareholder proposal that sought to remove Mr. Buffett, who is currently both chief executive and chairman of the company’s board of directors, from his chair role. When responding to the climate proposal on Saturday, he once again emphasized that Berkshire Hathaway Energy was making big investments in renewable energy projects. Mr. Buffett said on Saturday at the meeting that Berkshire had been buying shares of the video game company Activision Blizzard since Microsoft announced its plans to buy Activision on Jan. 18 and now holds a 9.5 percent stake in the company. A giant conference room floor was filled with booths highlighting Berkshire’s many companies, and offering discounts on things like boxes of See’s Candies, also owned by Berkshire. Mr. Buffett said on Saturday from the stage that See’s had brought 11 tons of candy to the shareholder meeting, and expected to sell out. The climate proposal last year had the support of many larger shareholders outside of Mr. Buffett’s inner circle, including BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street. The company’s financial filings also showed that Berkshire had dramatically increased its investment in the oil company giant Chevron to nearly $26 billion at the end of the first quarter, up from just $4.5 billion at the end of 2021. They say Berkshire Hathaway Energy, which manages a number of large utilities, has lagged rivals in setting plans to lower its emissions of carbon dioxide. The Buffett-fest is a daylong folksy affair, often called “Woodstock for Capitalists,” in which Mr. Buffett spends hours answering questions in front of a crowd in the city’s downtown 17,000-seat arena. Mr. Buffett, 91, faces a slightly more contentious annual meeting than usual, despite the fact that Berkshire’s shares, up nearly 8 percent this year, have outperformed the overall market, which is down 13 percent. That drop mirrored the performance of the stock market in general, which had its worst month in two years in April, and has been dragged down by investors’ fears about rising inflation and uncertainty caused by the Ukrainian war and the pandemic’s lingering impact on global supply chains. Last month, the company also bought $7 billion in shares of Occidental Petroleum. Those profits were also lower than the $6 billion that analysts had expected the company would earn in the quarter.

Buffett spoke on Saturday at Berkshire Hathaway Inc's first in-person annual shareholder meeting since 2019.

“It’s like a pilgrimage,” he said. “We will always have a lot of cash,” he said. Next year I might bring a massive container of coffee and give it out.” We like the idea, but not here.” “I bought a chair from Walmart so I could sit down,” said Tom Spain, founder of Henry Spain Investment Services in Market Harborough, England, who arrived at 3:15 a.m. for his third meeting. “I have a bunch of my idols here,” he said. “It’s not because we’re smart. ... I think we’re sane.” “It’s not inappropriate for companies to look at separating the chair and CEO,” he said. “That existed to an extraordinary degree in the last couple of years, encouraged by Wall Street,” he said. “The world is flipping a coin every day,” Buffett said. “Markets do crazy things, and occasionally Berkshire gets a chance to do something,” he said.

Warren Buffett gave Berkshire Hathaway investors a few details Saturday about how he spent more than $50 billion earlier this year.

But part of what keeps her coming back year after year is the chance to reconnect with friends and fellow investors she’s met at past meetings. Buffett says that Berkshire’s operating earnings are a better measure of the company’s performance because they exclude investment gains and losses. Berkshire and Buffett, who controls 32% of the vote, opposed all the proposals partly because the company is so decentralized that it requires few centralized reports. He said all of Berkshire’s companies are paying extraordinarily higher prices for raw materials and products, but inflation should have been expected after all the money the government sent out during the pandemic. They never sold the shares, which now sell for nearly $500,000 apiece. Berkshire also spent billions buying up 14% of Occidental Petroleum’s shares in the first half of March, and added to its already massive investment in Apple stock. That’s down from $11.7 billion, or $7.638 per Class A share, a year ago. Both Buffett and his investing partner, Charlie Munger, reiterated their past criticisms of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin because they don’t produce anything. Munger sat in a wheelchair during Saturday’s meeting. “Berkshire is built to forever. There is no finish point,” Buffett said. Berkshire revealed in its earnings report Saturday morning that its mountain of cash shrank to $106 billion in the first quarter from $147 billion at the beginning of the year as Buffett invested $51 billion in stocks and repurchased $3.2 billion of its own shares.