Berkshire Hathaway Q1 Results: Operating profit falls 14% to $9.64 billion on wildfire losses, net income drops 64% YoY

Berkshire Hathaway Q1 Results: Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. announced its first quarter results on Saturday, May 3, 2025, reporting a lower operating profit dragged by weaker results from its key insurance operations over wildfire losses, while its cash pile continued to grow.

Operating profit for the Omaha, Nebraska-based multinational conglomerate dropped 14.1 per cent to $9.64 billion, just over one-third of last year's profit from $11.22 billion a year earlier. Ahead of the meeting, Berkshire reported its first-quarter results that indicated Buffett is still cautious.

Profit was weighed down by a major drop in the value of its investments and $860 million in insurance losses related to policies that Geico and its other insurance companies wrote before the devastating Southern California wildfires.

Berkshire said it earned $4.6 billion, or $3,200 per Class A share, in the first quarter, down from $12.7 billion, or $8,825 per Class A share, last year. Berkshire is now sitting on $347.7 billion in cash as of the end of the first quarter, up from $334.2 billion at the end of the year. The growing cash pile is a reminder that Buffett has not found any investments at attractive prices.

Berkshire Hathaway's share price

Berkshire's share price has experienced a turbulent stock market period, rising 18.9 per cent this year while the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 was down 3.3 per cent. Berkshire's stock price has zoomed over 6,400,000 per cent since 1965. Berkshire shares have far outperformed the broader market in 2025, with many investors viewing the stock as a safe haven from potential disruptions to the economy, including from tariffs.

Berkshire Hathaway's biggest shareholdings

The company was a net seller of stocks for a 10th straight quarter, as it bought $3.18 billion and sold $4.68 billion. The fair value of the five largest holdings on March 31, 2025, and December 31, 2024, represented 69 per cent and 71 per cent, respectively, of the aggregate fair value of our equity securities shown in the preceding tables.

The five largest holdings at each date were American Express Company, Apple Inc., Bank of America Corporation, The Coca-Cola Company and Chevron Corporation. In March, Berkshire raised its stakes in Japanese trading houses Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Sumitomo to as high as 9.8 per cent.

Berkshire Hathaway's businesses

In other businesses, tariffs may have temporarily helped the BNSF railroad, where profit rose six per cent. BNSF reported higher volumes for consumer products, including west coast imports and automotive vehicles, which suggests higher demand for shipments before tariffs kicked in.

Berkshire Hathaway Energy also fared better, increasing profit 53 per cent through broad-based gains and a lower loss at the HomeServices real estate brokerage unit. Profit fell one per cent at manufacturing, service and retailing businesses.

Berkshire's collection of car dealerships benefited from higher sales of new and used vehicles. But home furnishings and other retailing businesses struggled with what Berkshire called “increased competition, sluggish demand and impacts of higher economic uncertainty.”

Buffett, 94, has led Berkshire for 60 years, transforming it from a struggling textile company into a conglomerate whose businesses include Geico, the BNSF railroad, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Dairy Queen and See's Candies.