Berkshire Hathaway has reported a 2.5% fall in net earnings for the fourth quarter of the 2025 financial year.
The investment company said net earnings dropped to US$19.199 billion (A$27.0 billion) in the three months ended 31 December 2025 from $19.694 billion in the previous corresponding period.
The fall for the final quarter that legendary investor Warren Buffet was Chief Executive was the result of lower income from the company’s insurance operations and a write-down of its investment in Occidental Petroleum.
For the full year net earnings dived 25% to $66.968 billion.
In his first annual letter to Berkshire shareholders, Buffet’s successor, Greg Abel, praised his mentor as a "remarkable CEO" and "arguably the greatest investor of all time", pledging to maintain his discipline in investing Berkshire's capital.
"We are committed to strengthening the great legacy built by Warren Buffett and his business partner (late former vice chairman) Charlie Munger, ensuring it endures through our commitment to excellence," Abel wrote
"I recognise how you want us to succeed together, and to do so in the right way."
Abel said some of Berkshire's businesses needed to improve their operating performance.
"Top-line growth is a challenge, and Abel teed up an expectation that reinsurance and commercial insurance growth may be non-existent in 2026," CFRA Research analyst Cathy Seifert was quoted by Reuters in this article.
"Revenue growth across the board was also pretty tepid."
Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares (NYSE: BRK.B) had closed up $2.28 (0.45%) at $504.95 on Friday (Saturday AEDT), implying a market capitalisation of $1.09 trillion.
Berkshire Hathaway has delivered compounded annual returns of 19.7% since 1965, almost twice the S&P 500′s compounded increases in that time.
