Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reports 4% drop in operating earnings in Q2

Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett attends the Berkshire Hathaway Inc annual shareholders' meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 3, 2024. (Scott Morgan/Reuters via CNN Newsource)

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway on Saturday reported operating earnings for the second quarter fell 3.79 per cent from the same time last year.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway on Saturday reported operating earnings for the second quarter fell 3.79 per cent from the same time last year.

It’s the company’s first earnings report since Buffett, 94, announced his plans to step down as chief executive at the end of the year and named Greg Abel, the vice chairman of non-insurance operations of Berkshire, as his successor.

Berkshire reported US$20.8 billion in operating earnings for the first six months of the year, an 8.8 per cent decrease from the same time last year. Earnings for the second quarter totaled $11.16 billion, a drop from $11.6 billion a year earlier.

Net income in the second quarter fell to roughly $12.37 billion, down 59 per cent from the second quarter last year.

Berkshire’s insurance underwriting businesses, meanwhile, earned $2.53 billion total before income taxes, a nearly 11 per cent drop from the same quarter last year, when underwriting earnings before taxes totaled $2.84 billion.

Between May and July, the company’s cash pile decreased to $344 billion for the first three months of the year. Berkshire was sitting on roughly $347 billion at the company’s annual meeting on May 3.

Berkshire revealed Saturday that it took a $3.8 billion hit on its stake in packaged food giant Kraft Heinz Co. In 2019, Buffett told CNBC’s Becky Quick that he “was wrong in a couple ways” on the Kraft Heinz deal.

The company again warned that U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies are contributing to an uncertain outlook. Trump’s trade war escalated Friday with the new tariff rates announced on various US trading partners to take effect on August 7.

“We are currently unable to reliably predict the nature, timing or magnitude of the potential economic consequences of any such changes,” Berkshire wrote in its earnings regarding macroeconomic conditions and geopolitical events.

Year-to-date revenue declined at clothing and toy brands Fruit of the Loom (11.7 per cent), Garan (10.1 per cent) and Jazwares (38.5 per cent), in part due to “uncertainties arising from international trade policies and tariffs, which produced delays in orders and shipments,” according to Berkshire’s earnings.

Berkshire’s energy and railroad companies reported earnings increases from the same quarter a year ago, with BNSF Railway’s earnings before taxes up 11.5 per cent and BHE net income climbing 18 per cent.

Shares of Berkshire (BRK.B) closed at $472.84 on Friday. The stock is up 4.82 per cent since the start of 2025.

Auzinea Bacon, CNN