Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel spends cash on buybacks

Key Points:

• Berkshire Hathaway’s new CEO Greg Abel invested $10 billion in Alphabet (Google's parent company) and repurchased about $4.5 billion of its own shares, reducing the company’s cash holdings to $365.5 billion from nearly $400 billion at the end of March.
• The company added over $21 billion in commercial, industrial, and other stocks to its portfolio in the second quarter, with specific stock details to be disclosed later this month.
• Berkshire’s net profit more than doubled to $25.667 billion, driven by investment gains, while operating profit increased to $12.983 billion, reflecting growth in its diverse business operations.
• Despite concerns over Geico’s underwriting profits dropping 45%, analyst Cathy Seifert highlighted positive investor takeaways from the significant share repurchases and 10% operating revenue growth.
• Berkshire completed a $6.8 billion acquisition of homebuilder Taylor Morrison in July, which is not reflected in the second-quarter results, and continues to follow a disciplined approach to share buybacks based on valuation rather than a fixed amount.