The Oracle of Omaha still has his mojo. While many S&P 500 stocks have been reeling, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A+0.14%) has been on a tear, hitting record highs this year in its Class A and Class B stocks.
Berkshire Hathaway’s Class B shares are up 16% so far this year, compared to a 4.5% loss for the S&P 500 index.
Investors have viewed Berkshire as a shelter of sorts from Wall Street’s volatility. According to recent reports, Berkshire Hathaway is now sitting on a pile of $334 billion in cash as the company has retrenched from stocks over the past couple of years. The company’s stock selling spree came at the right time, as the market has experienced a correction so far in 2025.
CNBC reports that Berkshire sold more than $134 billion worth of stocks in 2024. This is mainly due to the shrinking of Berkshire’s two largest equity holdings — Apple and Bank of America.
In CEO Warren Buffett’s annual letter to shareholders last month, he touted the company’s continued focus on equities, either controlling a whole company, or smaller stakes in larger companies.
“We own a small percentage of a dozen or so very large and highly profitable businesses with household names such as Apple (AAPL-0.32%), American Express (AXP-1.00%), Coca-Cola (KO-0.48%) and Moody’s (MCO-1.34%). Many of these companies earn very high returns on the net tangible equity required for their operation,” Buffett wrote, also espousing a humble, agnostic approach to equity selection.
“We are impartial in our choice of equity vehicles, investing in either variety based upon where we can best deploy your (and my family’s) savings,”Buffet says.
The company’s most recent proxy also provided some insights into the company. Of note is Buffett’s modest salary by CEO standards. The proxy stated that Buffett’s annual salary has been $100,000 for over 40 years and that he receives no bonus or any form of equity-based compensation. Buffet’s CEO salary is lower than the $392,500 Berkshire mean employee salary.
The letter notes that Buffett’s total compensation is “far less than almost all public company CEOs.”
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