Berkshire Buys Back $9.6 Billion of Stock as Quarterly Profit Falls

The latest

November 7, 2026 · 4:55 p.m. Central — Berkshire Hathaway repurchased about $9.6 billion of its own stock during the third quarter as operating earnings and net income both fell from a year earlier, the company’s results and news reports show.

The July-through-September buybacks followed about $4.8 billion in purchases earlier in the year, Reuters reported. The quarter was Berkshire’s third with Greg Abel as chief executive after Warren Buffett stepped aside from that role at the start of 2026.

The earnings numbers

Berkshire’s November 7 earnings release showed third-quarter operating earnings of $12.705 billion, down from $13.485 billion a year earlier — a decline of about 5.8%. Net earnings attributable to shareholders fell to $22.112 billion from $30.796 billion, or about 28%.

The two measures answer different questions. Net earnings include changes in the value of investments that Berkshire still holds, which can make the total swing from quarter to quarter. Operating earnings exclude investment gains and losses, giving a different view of the performance of the company’s businesses; Berkshire cautions readers about interpreting the investment-driven swings.

Insurance underwriting earnings fell to $1.352 billion from $2.369 billion, while BNSF railway earnings rose to $1.729 billion from $1.449 billion. Those figures cover different businesses and do not by themselves explain every change in the company’s overall results.

What a buyback means

A buyback is a company’s purchase of its own shares. Berkshire’s quarterly filing says its policy allows repurchases when the chief executive, after consulting the chairman, believes the price is below a conservative estimate of the company’s intrinsic value. The program does not require a set amount of purchases.

Reuters reported that the company bought roughly $2 billion more of its shares during the first four weeks of October, after the third quarter ended. Berkshire’s holdings range from insurers such as Geico to rail, energy, manufacturing and retail businesses. A rise in buybacks does not guarantee a particular future share price or level of purchases.

Key dates

January 2026: Abel became chief executive, succeeding Buffett.

July through September: Berkshire repurchased about $9.6 billion in stock, according to Reuters and the Associated Press.

November 7: Berkshire released its third-quarter earnings and quarterly filing.

Sources and visual credits

Berkshire Hathaway earnings release · Berkshire Hathaway quarterly report · Reuters via Investing.com · Associated Press.

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