Saturday, November 6th, 2021
Buffett’s company earns less
Berkshire Hathaway sits on record mountain of money
Never before has private equity firm Berkshire Hathaway had more cash. However, star investor Buffett also remains from the consequences of the porous supply chains. In the case of equity investments, profits rise more slowly.
Disruptions in global supply chains have not caused the profits of private equity firm Berkshire Hathaway from star investor Warren Buffett to bubble as much as expected. The operating profit increased in the third quarter by 18 percent to nearly 6.5 billion dollars, as the company announced. However, analysts had expected more.
Because of the problems with the supply chains, the costs of materials and freight, among other things, have increased at many of the company’s holdings, according to housing construction companies, said Berkshire Hathaway. Expenses in connection with damage from Hurricane Ida or floods in Europe were a burden on the insurers of the company, which is involved in more than 90 companies.
However, Berkshire also cashed in by selling blocks of stock, leaving the company with $ 142.9 billion in cash – more than ever. In the quarter, the investment firm bought back $ 7.6 billion of its own shares, making the total for this year $ 20.2 billion. Due to unrealized profits on shares such as Apple or Bank of America, net profits fell by two-thirds to $ 10.3 billion.