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Markets · November 7, 2026 · 2 min read

Berkshire quarterly operating earnings fall as buybacks reach $9.6 billion

By Econ Data Tools Editorial Team

Published November 7, 2026 • Updated November 7, 2026

Operating earnings fell to $12.705 billion in Q3 while nine-month earnings rose. Berkshire separates those non-GAAP results from investment gains and reports approximately $9.6 billion of quarterly share repurchases.

Berkshire Hathaway reported third-quarter operating earnings of $12.705 billion on November 7, down from $13.485 billion a year earlier. Its nine-month operating earnings rose to $37.034 billion from $34.286 billion. The quarterly decline and year-to-date increase describe different periods and should not be treated as contradictory signals. Operating earnings are a company-defined non-GAAP measure. Berkshire excludes investment gains and losses, impairments of goodwill and intangible assets, and other-than-temporary impairments of equity-method investments. Its release provides a reconciliation to net earnings rather than presenting operating earnings as the same measure as GAAP profit. Net earnings attributable to Berkshire shareholders were $22.112 billion for the quarter, versus $30.796 billion a year earlier. Investment gains were $9.407 billion, compared with $17.311 billion. Berkshire warns that quarterly investment gains can be misleading as a guide to business performance because accounting rules include changes in unrealized equity-investment gains and losses. Insurance underwriting earnings declined to $1.352 billion from $2.369 billion, while insurance investment income fell to $2.734 billion from $3.181 billion. Other businesses moved in the opposite direction: the release reports BNSF earnings of $1.729 billion versus $1.449 billion, energy earnings of $1.612 billion versus $1.489 billion, and manufacturing, service and retailing earnings of $4.042 billion versus $3.616 billion. These figures are after tax. Berkshire acquired approximately $9.6 billion of treasury shares during the quarter, bringing its nine-month total to about $14.4 billion. Insurance float was approximately $178.5 billion at September 30, up about $2.1 billion from year-end 2025. Float is the net liabilities Berkshire assumes under insurance contracts, not a separate measure of shareholder cash available for distribution. The release urges readers to review the full quarterly filing and says the limited information in the announcement is not enough for an informed investment judgment. The verified takeaway is a decline in quarterly operating earnings alongside higher nine-month operating earnings and substantial share repurchases. Those results do not establish that the shares are undervalued or predict future returns.

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