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Warren Buffett’s Berkshire reins in stock purchases and books $43.8bn loss
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway dramatically slowed new investment in the second quarter after setting a blistering pace at the start of the year, as the US stock market sell-off pushed the insurance-to-railroad conglomerate to a $43.8bn loss.
Berkshire said on Saturday that the drop in global financial markets had weighed heavily on its stock portfolio which fell in value to $328bn, from $391bn at the end of March. The $53bn booked loss in the three months to June far outweighed an upbeat quarter for its businesses, which improved their profitability.
The company’s filing with US securities regulators showed its purchases of new stocks dwindled to about $6.2bn in the quarter, down from the $51.1bn it spent between January and March — a spurt that surprised Berkshire shareholders. Berkshire sold $2.3bn of stocks in the latest three-month period.
Berkshire also spent $1bn buying back its own shares in June, a commonly used tactic when Buffett and his investment team find fewer appealing targets in the market.
The 91-year-old investor signalled at the company’s annual meeting in Omaha in April that the spree of multibillion-dollar stock purchases was likely to slow as the year progressed, saying that the atmosphere in the company’s headquarters had become more “lethargic”.
Investors will get a more detailed update on how Berkshire’s stock portfolio has changed later this month, when the company and other big money managers disclose their investments to regulators. Separate filings show the company has increased its stake in energy company Occidental Petroleum in recent months.
Berkshire’s mammoth cash and Treasury holdings were little changed from the end of March, falling less than $1bn to $105.4bn.
While net income slid from a $5.5bn profit at the year’s start to a $43.8bn loss, operating income — which excludes the ups and downs of Berkshire’s stock positions — rose 39 per cent to $9.3bn. That included a $1.1bn currency-related gain on its non-US dollar debt.
Berkshire is required to include the swings in the value of its stock and derivatives portfolio as part of its earnings each quarter, an accounting rule that Buffett has warned can make the company’s earnings figures look “extremely misleading” and volatile.
The loss amounted to $29,754 per class A share. It stands in contrast to the $18,488 per share profit the company reported a year earlier.
Berkshire’s results are parsed by analysts and investors for signs of the health of the broader US economy, as its businesses cut across much of the country’s industrial and financial heart.
Inflationary pressures continued to bite, although many of its divisions were able to pass along higher prices to customers. The BNSF railroad, which Buffett has described as one of the “four giants” within Berkshire, reported a 15 per cent increase in revenue as fuel surcharges it levied on clients offset a drop in shipping volumes. Fuel costs for BNSF, which has over 32,500 miles of rail tracks across 28 states, jumped more than 80 per cent year-on-year.
Insurance unit Geico recorded a $487mn pre-tax underwriting loss in the quarter, up from the three months before. The division blamed the bigger loss on much higher prices for new cars and auto parts that it must pay when its clients are involved in accidents.
Buffett in April said the company was seeing the effects of inflation first hand, warning that it “swindles almost everybody”.
Berkshire’s housing businesses, including modular home unit Clayton Homes and home decor retailer Nebraska Furniture Mart, offered hints about how consumers were responding to higher prices and increased mortgage rates. Furniture sales were relatively flat, with higher prices compensating for lower orders.
Nonetheless there were signs of strength in the housing market, with new housing sales from Clayton up 9.8 per cent in the first half of the year. Revenues for the division rose 28 per cent to $3.4bn in the second quarter from a year earlier.
“The increases in home mortgage interest rates will very likely slow demand for new home construction, which could adversely impact our businesses,” Berkshire warned. “We also continue to be negatively affected by persistent supply chain disruptions and significant cost increases for many raw materials and other inputs, including energy, freight and labour.”
Berkshire addressed a potential conflict raised at the company’s annual meeting earlier this year. In June it spent $870mn to purchase shares that Berkshire vice chair Greg Abel, Buffett’s anointed successor, held directly in its energy unit.
Abel joined the company in 2000 when Berkshire acquired the utility MidAmerican Energy, and had held part of his wealth in that business instead of in shares of the Berkshire parent company.
Shares of Berkshire Hathaway’s class A common stock have fallen roughly 2 per cent this year, outperforming the 13 per cent drop in the benchmark S&P 500.
American Airlines CEO Doug Parker to retire, President Isom to take reins March 31
American Airlines CEO Doug Parker is stepping down after eight years at the helm and will be replaced by the carrier’s president, Robert Isom, on March 31, the company announced Tuesday.
Parker is the second major airline CEO this year to announce his retirement, marking a changing of the guard among U.S. carriers. Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly will step down in February, handing the reins to another long-time executive, Bob Jordan, in February.
Parker will continue as chairman of American’s board.
“It likely would have happened sooner, but the global pandemic — and the devastating impact it had on our industry — delayed those plans,” Doug Parker said in a note to staff on Tuesday.
Parker first became CEO of America West shortly before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and later oversaw two mergers — with US Airways and American Airlines, the tail-end of a wave of consolidation among U.S. carriers that propelled American to become the largest U.S. carrier.
Isom will become CEO of an airline that is still losing money as it tries to rebuild a business that collapsed during the pandemic. In the first three quarters of 2021, American has lost almost $4.8 billion after losing $9.5 billion last year when Covid forced countries around the world to ban flights and millions of would be travelers avoided taking flights.
“Over the last several years, our airline and our industry have gone through a period of transformative change. And with change comes opportunity,” Isom said In a news release announcing the leadership change.
For Parker and Isom, the transition is the latest move in two careers that have been connected for more than 20 years, stretching back to their days at America West in the mid 90’s.
On September 1, 2001 Parker became CEO of America West just 10 days before the Sept. 11 attacks plunged the airline industry into a crisis. While many carriers struggled to rebound, Parker saw the challenging environment as the right opportunity for consolidation. In 2005, Parker oversaw the merger of America West with a bankrupt U.S. Airways, creating the fifth-largest carrier in the country. Parker ran the new U.S. Airways as CEO.
Following the Great Recession that ended in 2009, airlines that were saddled with massive debts and high legacy costs spurred a series of bankruptcies and another round of mergers. Once again, Parker saw a rare opportunity to create a larger airline with the size and scale he could never achieve at U.S. Airways.
This time, the target was American which had tumbled into bankruptcy in 2011. Parker engineered a merger between U.S. Airways and a bankrupt American, creating the largest airline in the world when American emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2013. Once again Parker was CEO while Isom oversaw the integration of the two carriers as chief operating officer.
This is breaking news. Check back for updates.