Berkshire Hathaway logs sharp Q4 earnings dip as insurance woes persist under new leadership.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has unveiled its latest financials. Fourth-quarter operating earnings fell to $10.2 billion, a 29.8 per cent plunge year-over-year due to insurance pressures, per the Saturday 10-K filing.
Full-year operating earnings hit $44.5 billion, down six per cent. Net earnings slipped to $19.2 billion from $19.69 billion, hit by volatile investments, as Reuters and Bloomberg noted.
Insurance underwriting earned $7.2 billion, off 19.5 per cent. Geico suffered customer churn from rate hikes amid high claims, eroding its market share below 13 per cent per AM Best and CNBC.
This first letter without Buffett’s pen coincides with his year-end exit. The 95-year-old Oracle of Omaha named Greg Abel successor in May 2025 after 60 years at the helm.
Abel reassured investors. “To invest in Berkshire has long been a vote of trust in our founder—a trust that now rests with Berkshire. Your capital is commingled with ours, but it does not belong to us. Our role is stewardship. That stewardship has shaped a culture and reinforced a set of values that are not the result of our success, but the reason for it,” he wrote.
Buffett stays chairman, in office five days weekly. Abel, a 2000 joiner, was endorsed by late vice-chair Charlie Munger and Buffett for active leadership.
Abel stressed candour. “We will encounter business successes and setbacks. When we fail, we will say so. Doing the right thing also means rectifying our errors.” He promised to “act decisively and ruthlessly” on underperformers.
Cash reserves soared to a record $373.1 billion. Abel vowed “patient and disciplined” investing, not retreat.
He will lead the 2 May “Woodstock for Capitalists” meeting. Buffett noted Abel “also understands that if you start fooling your shareholders, you will soon believe your own baloney and be fooling yourself, as well.”
“I am honoured by the responsibility of continuing to build our company and our partnership in the years ahead. We move forward with great intent and purpose,” Abel wrote.
BRK.B shares dropped two per cent after hours per Yahoo Finance. Morningstar sees the balance sheet as a 2026 bulwark.