Warren Buffett and Greg Abel were spotted at the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting held on May 3, 2025, in Omaha, Nebraska.
Berkshire Hathaway experienced a significant decline in operating earnings for the fourth quarter of 2025, primarily due to underperformance in its insurance sector. The conglomerate reported a decrease in earnings from operations to $10.2 billion, marking a 29% drop from $14.56 billion recorded in the same quarter the previous year.
This quarter was pivotal for the company as it marked Warren Buffett's last as CEO, following his announcement last May about stepping down. Greg Abel took over as CEO starting 2026 and has pledged to uphold the company's culture of financial strength and capital discipline, which Buffett cultivated. However, Buffett continues to serve as chairman.
Insurance underwriting profits sank by 54% to $1.56 billion from $3.41 billion, while insurance investment income decreased nearly 25% to $3.1 billion from $4.088 billion.
For the entire year of 2025, Berkshire reported operating earnings of $44.49 billion, compared to $47.44 billion the prior year. Annual profits from insurance underwriting fell to $7.26 billion from $9 billion in 2024, and insurance investment income declined to $12.5 billion from $13.6 billion the previous year.
Overall earnings, which encompass gains or losses from stock market investments, experienced a slight drop in the fourth quarter from $19.7 billion to $19.2 billion. This decline was influenced by a $4.5 billion impairment related to Berkshire's investments in Kraft Heinz and Occidental Petroleum, although investment gains reached $13.5 billion.
For the full year, overall earnings decreased to $66.97 billion from $89 billion the year prior. Notably, Berkshire advises its investors not to focus excessively on short-term fluctuations in investment performance.
Berkshire clarified in its earnings release, "The amount of investment gains (losses) in any given quarter is usually meaningless and delivers figures for net earnings per share that can be extremely misleading to investors who have little or no knowledge of accounting rules."