Overview
- Berkshire reversed a 14‑quarter selling streak in the second quarter by buying about $23.5 billion of equities and recording roughly $20 billion in net stock purchases.
- The company repurchased about $4.5 billion of its own shares in Q2 and added roughly $3.3 billion of buybacks in July, bringing total repurchases since March to near $8 billion.
- Berkshire disclosed a roughly $10 billion private placement in Alphabet that now sits among its top five holdings and completed the $6.8 billion cash acquisition of Taylor Morrison in July.
- Reported operating earnings rose to $12.98 billion and net income to $25.67 billion, with much of the headline gain driven by unrealized investment gains and favorable currency effects.
- Cash and Treasury holdings fell to about $365 billion leaving the company large optionality, markets are watching an imminent 13F filing to identify roughly $13.5 billion of unnamed purchases, and some investors have publicly criticized the faster pace of deployment.