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Warren Buffett's successor is finally spending the huge cash pile he built at Berkshire Hathaway

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Lauren Edmonds

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Theron Mohamed

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Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting

Greg Abel boosted spending on stocks and buybacks in the second quarter.

AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz

Greg Abel might just be a little looser with the purse strings than Warren Buffett.

Abel, who succeeded Buffett as Berkshire Hathaway's CEO at the turn of this year, oversaw a drop in the conglomerate's mountain of cash and Treasury bills from $380 billion at the end of March to $365 billion at the end of June, excluding Treasury payables.

Berkshire opened its coffers to buy $23.5 billion in stocks while selling only $3.7 billion, meaning it purchased nearly $20 billion on a net basis. It had been a net seller for 14 quarters straight. The last time it had a larger net outlay on stocks was in the first quarter of 2022.

Abel also repurchased $4.6 billion of Berkshire stock, marking the company's biggest quarter for stock buybacks since 2021.

The parent company of Geico, Dairy Queen, and Squishmallows-owner Jazwares reported a 16% year-on-year rise in operating income to $13 billion in the second quarter.

Lower insurance profits were offset by profit growth at BNSF Railway, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and the manufacturing, service, and retailing division, plus a nearly $1.3 billion foreign-currency exchange gain.

Berkshire completed its acquisition of Taylor Morrison Home Corporation for $8.5 billion in cash on July 24, after the quarter ended.

Ramping up net stock purchases and buybacks marks a change in tempo for Berkshire. Its cash pile roughly doubled during Buffett's last two years as CEO as the legendary bargain hunter struggled to find them in a red-hot market for stocks and private businesses.

Macrae Sykes, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, said in emailed comments that he welcomed the sizable buyback since it suggested Abel and Buffett — who remains chairman — once again saw Berkshire shares as offering good value for money, and were finding ways to deploy cash.

Abel pledged allegiance to Buffett's signature approach of disciplined capital allocation in his first letter to shareholders in February, writing that Berkshire pursues opportunities where the reward matches the risk.

Buffett's successor said he's proud of Berkshire's "nimble culture," which enables it to make considered, thoughtful investments quickly.

"Many times in Berkshire's history, some observers have suggested that our substantial cash position signals a retreat from investing. It does not. We continue to evaluate many opportunities and will remain patient and disciplined in pursuing the right ones for the benefit of our owners," Abel wrote.

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Lauren Edmonds

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Lauren Edmonds is an award-winning reporter on the Business News team. When news isn't breaking, she covers personal finance, kitchen-table economics, and paths to financial freedom, including investing, real estate, side hustles, and small business. She also writes about guaranteed and universal basic income programs in the United States.Lauren has also covered lifestyle and entertainment, digital culture, and more. She has a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and resides in New York City.Do you have an interesting story to tell? You can reach Lauren at [email protected] or on Signal at ledmonds0.07.Popular StoriesNetflix wants to be Disney when it grows up Why Hollywood is paying this 17-year-old up to $20,000 to boost film trailers with TikTok editsHere's all the free money Trump's talked about giving Americans during his second term — and where it all standsA 17-year-old earned $72,000 after investing his e-commerce profits into stocks. Here's why he bet on the tech industry.Lawmakers float a nationwide basic income experiment that would cover the cost of a 2-bedroom apartmentNearly 30,000 Americans have received about $335 million in basic income. Here are 5 takeaways. Americans ditch suffocating healthcare costs and divisive politics to retire in Italy: 'It's the way they approach life'From 'road-schooling' to gas that costs $500, this family of 4 shares what it's like living in a solar-powered Greyhound bus

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Theron Mohamed

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Theron Mohamed is a London-based correspondent on the Trending team at Business Insider. His coverage spans finance, investing, wealth, markets, and the economy.Theron joined BI in 2019 as a reporter at Markets Insider and rose to the rank of correspondent before moving to the Trending team in 2024. He previously covered tech, media, and telecom stocks for Investors Chronicle magazine and had a brief stint on the Financial Times' Data team. He interned at the Wall Street Journal in New York where he primarily wrote for Heard on the Street.Theron has freelanced for The Independent, The Telegraph, WIRED, and several smaller publications. He holds an undergraduate degree in geography from the London School of Economics, and a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.Theron often covers Warren Buffett, Michael Burry, Jeremy Grantham and other top-flight investors. He also writes about the world's wealthiest people and shares financial advice from all manner of rich and successful people.Email Theron at [email protected] and follow him on X @theron_mohamed.Expertise

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