Berkshire's operating profits swell as Buffett repurchases record $27 billion in shares
Key takeaways:
- The firm's operating returns — which enclose earnings made from the myriad of businesses owned by the partnership — tallied $7.285 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021.
- That's up around 45% from the year-earlier period's earnings of $5.021 billion.
- Berkshire utilized $6.9 billion to purchase back stocks in the fourth quarter, getting the total in share repurchases to a record $27 billion for 2021.
Warren Buffet repurchases a record $27 billion:
Berkshire Hathway's operating earnings surged in the fourth quarter and for the entire year as the conglomerate's businesses persisted to roar back to life from the pandemic financial slowdown. Chairman Warren Buffett raised his bet on that comeback, purchasing back a record of Berkshire shares in 2021.
According to a firm release posted, the firm's operating returns — which contain gains made from the myriad of businesses owned by the conglomerate like insurance, railroads, and utilities — summed $7.285 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021 Saturday.
That's up approximately 45% from the year-earlier period's earnings of $5.021 billion.
For the year, Berkshire's operating revenues summed $27.455 billion. That's up 25.2% from 2020′s $21.992 billion.
Berkshire utilized $6.9 billion to purchase back stocks in the fourth quarter, getting the total share repurchases to about $27 billion for 2021.
That's a record amount and up from the $24.7 billion repurchased as the pandemic steamed in 2020. However, the fourth-quarter buyback rate was slower than the $7.6 billion repurchased in the third quarter.
Despite these bold buybacks, Berkshire's money supply at the end of 2021 stood at around $146.72 billion. That's down only just from a record $149.2 billion at the end of the third quarter.
In his simultaneous annual shareholder letter, Buffett described that he and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger saw little that "thrills" them regarding essential assets that were once their hallmark.