BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY
BRK.A / B
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Berkshire Hathaway: Many businesses.
One balance sheet.

By · Research and review process

Company information centre · Operating businesses, insurance and key metrics.

Financials · 30 Jun 2026 Integration review · 25 Oct 2026 USD

Reported financial summary

Selected annual observations from the historical dataset. Later interim periods are presented separately in the interactive history.

Revenue
371,444USD million · 2025 · Annual · ended 2025-12-31
Operating earnings
44,486USD million · 2025 · Annual · ended 2025-12-31
Operating cash flow
45,969USD million · 2025 · Annual · ended 2025-12-31
Cash flow less capital expenditure
25,042USD million · 2025 · Annual · ended 2025-12-31
Definitions, sources and limitations

Figures use the same dataset as the interactive history, displayed in the stated units with up to six decimal places. Reporting periods are not editorial review dates. Missing values are not zero. Date definitions · Published corrections

Business overview

Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company whose subsidiaries operate in insurance, rail transport, energy, manufacturing, services and retail. It earns money from these businesses and from a portfolio of shares, bonds and other investments. Subsidiary managers run day-to-day operations, while the parent makes major decisions about acquisitions, investments and the allocation of available capital.

Annual report · business description ↗

Berkshire’s operating and capital cycle.

Analysis · reviewed 25 Oct 2026

Berkshire owns businesses and investments. Its engine combines disciplined insurance, retained business earnings and capital allocation. Per-share measures show how earnings and capital change relative to the share count.

How the operating cycle works

  1. Underwrite and meet claims. Premiums arrive before many claims. Underwriting results, reserve changes and claims duration determine the accounting cost and durability of float. Test underwriting and float ↗
  2. Earn investment income. Insurers and the parent hold investments and receive interest and dividends. Income follows the entity holding the assets; transfers can change its reporting category. Read the income classification ↗
  3. Generate operating cash. Rail, utility and other businesses turn operating activity into cash. Working capital, tax and claims timing can make cash generation differ from accounting earnings. Inspect business cash generation ↗
  4. Fund required investment and obligations. Subsidiaries retain cash for capital expenditure, debt service, claims, regulation and resilience. Only the amount actually transferred becomes parent cash. Compare investment and transfers ↗
  5. Allocate parent capital. Available parent resources can fund acquisitions, securities or support for subsidiaries. Cash and noncash distributions are separate; internal transfers eliminate on consolidation. Follow parent cash flows ↗
  6. Test the subsequent result. Compare later operating earnings, cash generation and obligations with the capital committed. Financial resilience depends on where liquidity and debt sit, not only on the group total. Inspect the liquidity map ↗

Ownership is a separate effect. Repurchases use cash and change each remaining share’s proportional interest; they do not increase railway traffic, electricity output or subsidiary earnings. See share-count arithmetic ↗

Analysis of business economics, not a forecast. Float growth is not added to operating cash flow as another independent cash source, and subsidiary transfers are not added to consolidated cash generation.

Six core checks · open the metric guide

Six core checks, with explanations

The headline uses operating earnings per B-equivalent share. Book value remains in the chart selector and tables: it records accounting net assets but does not fully capture the earning power of controlled businesses. Use the existing dated charts and tables below for reported figures. Open a check to see how it supports the flywheel and what could break it.

Insurance underwriting: combined ratio and underwriting profit
What it measures
Below 100% means claims and expenses cost less than premiums earned. At 95%, £100 of premiums leaves £5 before investment income. GEICO’s ratio is not the ratio for all Berkshire insurance.
Why it matters
Profitable underwriting supplies investable float at a negative accounting cost, while adding profit.
What could mislead you
Bad pricing, catastrophes and underestimated claims can reverse the benefit.
Related checks
Track GEICO combined ratio, total pre-tax underwriting profit and reserve development over several years. Do not reward premium growth that sacrifices pricing.
Float: size, cost and durability
What it measures
Premium money held before claims are paid. More float is useful only if its cost and claims obligations are manageable.
Why it matters
Durable, low-cost funding lets Berkshire hold investments for long periods. Float is a liability, not shareholder cash to spend freely.
What could mislead you
Rapid float growth can conceal underpriced policies or future claims; claims payments can consume liquidity.
Related checks
Read float alongside underwriting results and reserve revisions. A simple annual cost proxy is underwriting loss ÷ average float; underwriting profit makes that proxy negative. Contract mix and timing matter.
Subsidiaries: operating earnings and cash after reinvestment
What it measures
Track BNSF, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and manufacturing/services/retailing earnings separately; compare cash generation with capital expenditure.
Why it matters
Cash retained where reinvestment earns good returns can grow each business. Cash available for distribution can fund opportunities elsewhere in Berkshire.
What could mislead you
Railways and utilities need substantial investment. Accounting profits do not all become distributable cash; recession, regulation and wildfire liabilities can reduce it.
Related checks
Watch multi-year segment earnings, BNSF operating ratio alongside fuel, business mix, provisions and service outcomes, and BNSF/BHE cash flow against capex. Separate maintenance from expansion spending when disclosed; group OCF minus capex is only a rough proxy.
Investments: underlying earnings, dividends and interest
What it measures
The equity portfolio represents ownership in businesses; Treasury bills and bonds earn interest. Dividend receipts alone omit earnings retained by investees.
Why it matters
Reinvested income and growth in investee earning power can enlarge the capital pool.
What could mislead you
Concentrated holdings can disappoint; lower rates can reduce bill income. Market gains and interest income are different sources of return.
Related checks
Track major holdings’ earnings and cash flow, concentration, dividends and insurance investment income. Avoid adding estimated look-through earnings to reported earnings without removing overlaps.
Capital allocation: cash deployed and subsequent results
What it measures
Follow reinvestment, acquisitions, security purchases/sales, liquidity and repurchases. Compare the capital deployed with subsequent disclosed operating results.
Why it matters
Reinvestment and acquisitions can change a business’s earnings and cash generation. Repurchases reduce the shares outstanding and change the remaining shareholders’ proportional ownership; spending and share-count changes show the ownership arithmetic.
What could mislead you
Capital spending or acquisition activity alone does not establish stronger operating performance. Repurchases use cash, and share-count changes should be read alongside earnings, liquidity and other obligations.
Related checks
Compare investment spending with subsequent multi-year earnings; track cash paid for repurchases, B-equivalent shares and cash/bills against claims and other obligations. Separate the effect of earnings changes from the effect of the share count.
Owner outcome: operating earnings per share
What it measures
Operating earnings per B-equivalent share shows Berkshire’s company-defined operating earnings relative to weighted-average ownership. It excludes investment gains/losses and specified impairments, and is not complete economic earnings.
Why it matters
Retained profits provide capital for future activity; subsequent per-share earnings show whether that activity translated into earning power.
What could mislead you
Total earnings can rise without equivalent per-share gains. Insurance experience, interest rates, investment-income classification and the share count can change the result; compare these drivers over several years.
Related checks
Review a 3–5 year trend in operating earnings, segment mix, capital deployed, liquidity and share count. Book value per share is a secondary accounting cross-check and does not capture all of the earning capacity of controlled businesses.

Competitive advantages: claims to test

Analysis of economic mechanisms, supported by dated disclosures. Size, float growth, reputation and ownership alone do not establish an advantage.

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Where the engine can fail

Insurance and liquidity

Underpriced policies, catastrophe clusters and inadequate reserves can turn float into expensive funding. Keep liquidity sufficient for claims; do not treat all consolidated cash as freely deployable.

Business economics

Recession, competitive pressure, railway costs, utility regulation and wildfire exposure can reduce cash available after required investment.

Capital allocation and succession

Poor purchases, overinvestment or weaker underwriting discipline can impair compounding. Judge the institution’s decisions and results across leadership transitions.

Scale and capital needs

A larger capital base increases the amount that must be allocated or retained. Track historical deployment and subsequent operating results alongside the funds needed for claims, investment and other obligations.

Source foundation: 2024 shareholder letter ↗ · Official annual reports ↗. Metric implications are analysis. Open each advantage for its dated evidence, tests and disclosure limits.

US$ billions · except shares
Operating earnings / Class B equivalent
Calculated · weighted-average shares

Operating earnings follow Berkshire’s company-defined non-GAAP measure. They exclude investment gains/losses and specified impairments, and do not capture every economic gain or loss.

How operating earnings reconcile to GAAP

Trend

Read the selected period through the operating cycle

Loading the historical operating and capital links…

What these funding and cash measures include

Insurance float: policyholder funding is a liability. Claims, insurance capital requirements and liquidity needs constrain its use.

Consolidated cash and Treasury bills: these balances include funds held across the group. They are not all freely available for the parent to redeploy.

Cash less borrowings: under the existing definition, this subtracts consolidated borrowings from cash and equivalents. Separately reported Treasury bills are excluded and shown in their own series.

FCF proxy: consolidated operating cash flow less PP&E and leased-equipment purchases. It is not parent distributable cash; claims timing, investment-related taxes, capital investment and subsidiary restrictions affect the relationship.

Where earnings come from

Underwriting earns premiums less claims and expenses. Insurance investment income comes from invested assets. Controlled businesses contribute operating earnings. Listed holdings are a separate ownership layer: dividends may enter reported earnings, while retained investee profits are not simply added to this total.

Operating earnings · after tax

US$ billions; shares of attributable operating earnings, calculated. “Other” includes corporate items and equity-method earnings. Grouping is reconciled in Sources.

Insurance investment income, parent income and “Other”

Investment income is classified according to where the assets are held. Transfers of capital from insurers to the parent can move the associated income between insurance investment income and “Other”. Read each category with its disclosed components; “Other” is not a uniform measure of recurring operating growth.

Historical snapshot: financial observations are incorporated through 30 June 2026. Later dated events are labelled separately. A filing alert records discovery; it does not mean the new report has been incorporated into these figures.

Research notebook · Altius + Berkshire