US billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reported a 53 percent year-over-year net profit decline of $ 5.46 billion, or $ 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.
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.
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.
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.
