US billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reported a 53 percent year-over-year net profit decline of $ 5.46 billion ($ 127.4 billion) in the first quarter. The conglomerate is not immune to the slowing US economy, the CNBC news server wrote.
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Berkshire’s operating profit, which includes profits from countless joint ventures such as insurance companies, railroads and utilities, remained unchanged at $ 7.04 billion year-on-year.
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The profit of the key insurance division fell 94 percent to $ 47 million. Berkshire, for example, owns Geico, a car insurance company, and General Reinsurance, a reinsurance company.
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Due to the wider market downturn, the company reported a loss of $ 1.58 billion from its investments. However, Buffett always advises shareholders to ignore quarterly investment fluctuations.
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Berkshire’s share repurchases slowed to $ 3.2 billion from $ 6.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021 between January and March. The company has been very active in acquisitions over the past quarter.
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In early March, Berkshire unveiled a 14.6 percent stake in oil and gas producer Occidental Petroleum, in which it invested about $ 6 billion. It is now worth more than seven billion dollars. That same month, the group announced that it would buy Alleghany insurance company for $ 11.6 billion. The company also bought 121 million shares of personal computer and printer manufacturer HP. The stake is now worth about $ 4.5 billion.
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Ninety-one-year-old Buffett is one of the richest people in the world and, thanks to his successful investments, has earned the nickname The Oracle of Omaha. According to ranking of billionaires Bloomberg is Buffett’s sixth richest man in the world with assets worth about $ 117 billion.
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