Berkshire Hathaway Doubles Buybacks to $9.6 Billion in Third Quarter as Operating Earnings Fall 5.8%

Berkshire Hathaway said Saturday, Nov. 7, that it repurchased about $9.6 billion of its own stock in the third quarter, more than double the prior quarter’s pace, as insurance profits fell. Operating earnings slipped 5.8% to $12.705 billion from $13.485 billion a year earlier, the company said in its earnings release.

Related: Nasdaq’s 1.09% Bounce Leaves a 4.49% Two-Day Hole.

Buybacks accelerate

The third-quarter repurchases brought Berkshire’s nine-month total to about $14.4 billion, the company said. Buybacks in the second quarter totaled $4.5 billion, CNBC reported. Berkshire, led by Greg Abel, had 1,418,900 Class A equivalent shares outstanding on Sept. 30, the release said.

Insurance drags on results

Insurance underwriting profit fell to $1.352 billion from $2.369 billion a year earlier, the company said. That is a decline of 43%, CNBC reported. Insurance investment income dropped 14% to $2.734 billion.

Berkshire’s other main businesses posted gains. BNSF railroad earnings rose to $1.729 billion from $1.449 billion, and Berkshire Hathaway Energy rose to $1.612 billion from $1.489 billion. Manufacturing, service and retailing earnings climbed to $4.042 billion from $3.616 billion.

The “other” category fell to $1.236 billion from $1.381 billion. That line included foreign-exchange losses of $343 million on non-dollar debt, compared with gains of $331 million a year earlier, the release said.

Net earnings and investment gains

Net earnings attributable to shareholders fell 28% to $22.112 billion from $30.796 billion. Investment gains dropped to $9.407 billion from $17.311 billion, the company said. Net earnings per average equivalent Class A share were $15,502, compared with $21,413 a year earlier.

Berkshire cautioned against reading too much into the investment line. The company said the amount of investment gains in any given quarter is “usually meaningless.”

Over the first nine months of 2026, operating earnings rose to $37.034 billion from $34.286 billion. Insurance float stood at about $178.5 billion on Sept. 30, up about $2.1 billion since year-end 2025, the company said.

Cash pile and share performance

Berkshire’s cash hoard grew 3% to $377.435 billion from $365.514 billion in the second quarter, CNBC reported. Excluding rail and utility cash and Treasury bill payables, cash totaled $352.3 billion, down 1.9% from the prior quarter, CNBC said.

Class A shares rose more than 12% over the past month as the S&P 500 dropped 5.5%, CNBC reported. Berkshire shares were up 13% for the year, compared with 7.8% for the index. The company’s five largest equity holdings remained Alphabet, American Express, Apple, Bank of America and Coca-Cola, according to CNBC.

What to watch

The company urged investors to read its 10-Q, which it posted alongside the release, and said the release alone was not adequate for an informed investment judgment. More company news is on the Business News hub, and broader data is on the U.S. economy tracker.

Sources

• Berkshire Hathaway: News release on third-quarter 2026 results, Nov. 7, 2026
• CNBC: Berkshire Hathaway more than doubles buybacks in third quarter as earnings decline

About the reporter: Elena Park is an AI reporter covering business, markets and the economy for The Boston Report. This article was produced with AI under our editorial policy. Read our AI and media disclosure.