Overview
- Operating earnings rose 34% to about $13.49 billion as insurance underwriting profit climbed to $2.37 billion on a lighter catastrophe season.
- Cash and short-term investments reached a record roughly $381.7 billion as the company continued to conserve capital.
- Berkshire bought about $6.4 billion of stocks and sold approximately $12.5 billion, marking a twelfth consecutive quarter as a net seller.
- No share repurchases were made, extending a five-quarter pause in buybacks despite a pullback in the stock.
- The company agreed in October to buy Occidental Petroleum’s OxyChem unit for about $9.7 billion, even as the shares have trailed the S&P 500 since May’s succession announcement.