Berkshire Hathaway buys back $9.6 billion of own stock but profits dip

Berkshire Hathaway repurchased US$9.6 billion worth of its own shares in the third quarter, but Geico’s numbers got worse as it invested more in ads and its overall profit fell more than 28 per cent as the value of its investments changed.

But the buybacks likely came to a halt recently as Berkshire’s Class A stock price surged past US$878,000 and topped where it was before Warren Buffett surprised investors with his plans to retire at the annual meeting in May 2025. He gave up the chairman title in September after relinquishing the CEO job to Greg Abel in January.

Berkshire’s massive cash pile also returned to growing in the third quarter and reached US$377.4 billion, up from US$365.5 billion at the end of June.