Berkshire Hathaway Q3 operating earnings fall to $12.71 billion

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) posted lower third-quarter earnings.

Shares were little changed at 9:37 a.m. ET, from a $570.89 close.

Here's how the company did:

• Operating earnings: $12.71 billion vs. $13.49 billion a year earlier
• Net earnings attributable to Berkshire shareholders: $22.11 billion vs. $30.80 billion a year earlier
• Net earnings per Class B share: $10.33 vs. $14.28 a year earlier

Investment gains were $9.41 billion, against $17.31 billion a year earlier. Investment gains in any single quarter are usually meaningless as a guide to business performance.

For the first nine months, operating earnings rose to $37.03 billion from $34.29 billion, and net earnings attributable to shareholders rose to $57.89 billion from $47.77 billion.

Insurance underwriting earned $1.35 billion, down from $2.37 billion. Insurance investment income was $2.73 billion, compared with $3.18 billion.

BNSF earned $1.73 billion, up from $1.45 billion. Berkshire Hathaway Energy earned $1.61 billion, up from $1.49 billion.

Manufacturing, service and retailing earned $4.04 billion, up from $3.62 billion. Other businesses earned $1.24 billion, down from $1.38 billion, including foreign currency exchange losses of $343 million in the quarter.

Berkshire acquired about $9.6 billion of its own shares in the third quarter, bringing the nine-month total to about $14.4 billion. Class A equivalent shares outstanding were 1,418,900 at September 30.

Insurance float was about $178.5 billion at September 30, an increase of about $2.1 billion since yearend 2025.