Berkshire Hathaway began drawing down its massive cash reserves in the second quarter, investing billions of dollars in stocks while accelerating share buybacks. The conglomerate repurchased $4.5 billion of its own shares during the quarter and another $3.3 billion in July. It also bought nearly $20 billion more in stocks than it sold between April and June, ending 14 consecutive quarters as a net seller.
Among its major investments was a roughly $10 billion increase in its stake in Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, making it one of Berkshire’s largest stock holdings. The company’s cash pile fell to $364.7 billion at the end of June from a record $380.2 billion three months earlier. Berkshire’s second-quarter operating profit rose 16% to $12.98 billion, while net income more than doubled to $25.67 billion.
The quarter marked the second since Greg Abel took over as Berkshire’s chief executive from Warren Buffett, who remains chairman. Investors are closely watching Abel’s approach to deploying Berkshire’s enormous capital reserves after Buffett faced difficulties finding major investments in his later years. The latest pace of share repurchases is comparable to Buffett’s strongest buyback periods, although Berkshire’s record remains the $27 billion spent on buybacks in 2021.
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