Berkshire Q4 operating earnings tumble 29% as underwriting profit halves in Buffett’s last quarter as CEO

Operating earnings fall to $10.2 billion in final quarter under Warren Buffett; Greg Abel assumes CEO role from 2026.

• Berkshire Hathaway Q4 operating earnings dropped 29% year-on-year
• Insurance profits and investment income both declined sharply
• Greg Abel took over as CEO as Buffett remains chairman

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Berkshire Hathaway reported a 29% year-on-year decline in fourth-quarter operating earnings, as weakness in its insurance business weighed on results in the final quarter under Warren Buffett as chief executive.

Operating earnings totaled $10.2 billion in the fourth quarter, down from $14.56 billion in the year-earlier period, according to results reported by CNBC.

Insurance underwriting profits fell 54 percent to $1.56 billion, compared with $3.41 billion a year earlier. Insurance investment income declined nearly 25 percent to $3.1 billion from $4.088 billion in the prior-year quarter, the report said.

For the full year 2025, operating earnings stood at $44.49 billion, compared with $47.44 billion in 2024.

Annual insurance underwriting profits came in at $7.26 billion, down from $9 billion in 2024. Insurance investment income for the year eased to $12.5 billion from $13.6 billion in the previous year.

The fourth quarter marked Buffett’s last as chief executive. He had announced at the annual shareholders meeting in May that he would step down from the role. Greg Abel assumed the CEO position at the start of 2026, while Buffett remains chairman.

In his first annual letter to shareholders as CEO, released alongside the results on Saturday, Abel said he would continue the culture of financial strength and capital discipline established under Buffett.

Berkshire did not repurchase shares during the quarter. The company’s cash holdings slipped to $373.3 billion at the end of the fourth quarter, down from a record $381.6 billion at the end of the third quarter.

Berkshire Hathaway Class A shares rose 10 percent in 2025, compared with a 16.4 percent advance in the S&P 500 over the same period.

Abel noted in the annual letter that since 1965, Berkshire has generated compounded annual gains of 19.7 percent, compared with the S&P 500’s compounded increases over the same period. Overall gains for Berkshire exceed 6,000,000 percent, while the S&P 500 has gained 46,061 percent, including dividends, he wrote.