Berkshire Hathaway Q3 Net Earnings Fall to $22.1 Billion; Operating Earnings $12.7 Billion, Buybacks $9.6 Billion
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. on November 7 reported third-quarter 2026 results from Omaha, Nebraska: net earnings attributable to Berkshire shareholders were $22.112 billion, down from $30.796 billion a year earlier, while operating earnings were $12.705 billion, down about 5.8% from $13.485 billion in the same quarter of 2025. It is the company's first third-quarter report since Warren Buffett became Chairman Emeritus in September and Howard G. Buffett was elected Chairman; Warren Buffett remains a director.
The swing in net earnings came mainly from investment gains of $9.407 billion in the quarter, including $7.7 billion of unrealized gains and $1.7 billion of after-tax realized gains. The company cautioned that investment gains or losses in any given quarter are usually meaningless and deliver per-share figures that can be extremely misleading. For the first nine months of 2026, net earnings were $57.885 billion (versus $47.769 billion a year earlier) and operating earnings were $37.034 billion (versus $34.286 billion).
By segment, insurance underwriting earned $1.352 billion, down from $2.369 billion a year earlier, and insurance investment income was $2.734 billion. BNSF earned $1.729 billion, up from $1.449 billion; Berkshire Hathaway Energy earned $1.612 billion; and manufacturing, service and retailing together earned $4.042 billion.
Berkshire repurchased approximately $9.6 billion of its own shares during the third quarter, bringing the nine-month total to about $14.4 billion. Insurance float was approximately $178.5 billion at September 30, up about $2.1 billion since year-end 2025. Net earnings per average equivalent Class A share were $15,502 for the quarter.
Berkshire Hathaway, headquartered in Omaha and listed on the New York Stock Exchange (BRK.A; BRK.B), operates businesses in insurance and reinsurance, utilities and energy, freight rail transportation, manufacturing, services and retailing. The company also posted its third-quarter Form 10-Q and urged investors and reporters to read it in full.
Related: Berkshire shares hit a post-succession-announcement high
(Source: Berkshire Hathaway)
Source: Berkshire Hathaway
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：沃伦·巴菲特资料肖像照片。摄影：Mark Hirschey／Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 2.0。 / File photo: Warren Buffett. Photo by Mark Hirschey via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
