Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate run by Warren E. Buffett, reported a sharp decrease in the first quarter’s profit on Saturday, because the company felt the consequences of a falling stock market and canceled for possible hits from President Trump’s trade policy.
The company reported $ 9.6 billion in business income, Mr Buffett’s preferred measure, a decrease of 14 percent compared to the same time a year ago. With the help of generally accepted accounting principles, Berkshire reported a decrease of almost 64 percent in the net result, largely due to the loss of paper investment.
The company reported that a “majority” of its companies had a lower turnover and income in the first three months of the year, in particular in the insurance income, which was affected by losses associated with the forest fires in California.
One thing that stood out was Berkshire’s cash treasure, who often called Mr Buffett his “elephant gun” and used to do large acquisitions, only continued to grow when the investor found little attractive possibilities of size to spend on. The cash stack of Berkshire in the quarter grew to $ 347.7 billion, a record.
Mr Buffett also remained a net seller of shares: Berkshire sold for $ 4.68 billion in equity in the quarter, compared to $ 3.18 billion in purchases.
Berkshire is often considered a Bellwether for the American business community, given his wide range of companies. The company has one of the largest railways in the country, BNSF, as well as a powerful insurance operation, an energy company, many consumer brands – from See’s Candies to Fruit of the Loom – and more.
The financial report was published prior to the annual shareholders’ meeting of Berkshire in Omaha, the birth city, where tens of thousands of investors from all over the world flowed directly from Mr Buffett about a wide range of topics.
A number of prominent business and business leaders were by the hand on Saturday, including the Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Tim Cook from Apple (one of Berkshire’s largest stock ownership) and the billionaire finance William A. Ackman. Two first timers, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Priscilla Chan, the wife of Meta’s Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, were also present.
Perhaps the most long -awaited problem he thinks about the tariff threats of Mr. Trump, who have roasted markets and have hit huge parts of American company companies.
Whatever Mr Buffett does – or not – says that it will be particularly remarkable, because the billionaire, 94, has maintained a lower public profile last year.
In a regulatory application On Saturday, Berkshire warned that Mr Trump’s trade policy generated ‘considerable uncertainty’, which could influence the business results of the company. “We are currently unable to reliably predict the potential impact in our companies, whether it concerns changes in product costs, cost chain costs and efficiency and the customer’s demand for our products and services.”
That said, the net income of BNSF rose in the quarter, because the railway said it was benefiting from higher volumes in the first three months of the year. During the period, many companies race for stocks of goods before Mr Trump’s rates came into force.
Andrew Ross Sorkin contributed reporting.
- Advertisement -
