Berkshire Hathaway’s operating earnings climbed 16% in the second quarter as strength across its energy, railroad and manufacturing businesses more than offset weaker insurance results.
But the bigger takeaway from the results is that CEO Greg Abel, 64, is starting to put the record cash hoard amassed by Warren Buffett to work on buybacks and stock purchases.
Berkshire’s cash pile declined to $365.5 billion at the end of June from a record $397.4 billion three months earlier, as the conglomerate deployed capital through other investments along with the buybacks. The quarter included the closing of Berkshire’s acquisition of Taylor Morrison.
Berkshire reversed a pattern of selling stocks, becoming a net buyer of equities in the second quarter with nearly $20 billion in net purchases. The conglomerate had been a net seller of stocks for 14 consecutive quarters before the latest period.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/08/berkshire-hathaway-earnings-q2-2026.html
The real reason Berkshire Hathaway started spending its cash pile
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