146 billion for bad times: Buffett's mountain of money grows even in the crisis

The day-to-day business of Berkshire Hathaway is suffering from the Corona crisis. Nevertheless, there is a big plus on the books in the second quarter, which is driving the cash reserves to dizzying heights. Star investor Warren Buffett invests the money in stocks.

Warren Buffett's investment company Berkshire Hathaway has once again increased its cash reserves significantly in the corona crisis. In the second quarter, the mountain of money on which the 89-year-old star investor sits rose by a good ten billion to the record amount of 146.6 billion US dollars (124.4 billion euros), according to the latest annual report from Berkshire Hathaway. This increases the investment pressure on the stock market gurus, known as "the oracle of Omaha" because of his smell for lucrative investments.

The financial markets have long been waiting for Buffett's next mega takeover. But unlike in previous crises, apart from a major natural gas deal, he held back in the pandemic. Instead of investing the enormous cash holdings of Berkshire Hathaway in investments or acquisitions, Buffett recently increasingly relied on share buybacks to maintain prices. In the three months to the end of June, a record $ 5.1 billion was spent on this.

Two billion for Bank of America

In addition, the group has invested around two billion dollars in shares of the US bank Bank of America since mid-July. Berkshire now owns a total of around one billion Bank of America shares valued at $ 25.8 billion. With shares of 11.9 percent, Buffett is the largest shareholder in the money house.

The day-to-day operations of Berkshire Hathay still suffered from the crisis. The operating profit of the conglomerate, which includes around 90 companies and several large equity investments, declined ten percent year-on-year to $ 5.5 billion.

Berkshire's surplus shot up from $ 14.1 billion to $ 26.3 billion thanks to the recovery on the stock exchanges. However, unrealized investment gains and losses must also be reported in the net result. Therefore this indicator fluctuates strongly and is relatively unsuitable as a yardstick for the actual course of business. For comparison: in the previous quarter there was a record minus of 50 billion dollars.