Berkshire buys back about $9.6 billion of stock as its cash and bills slip to $352.3 billion

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A, BRK.B) bought back about $9.6 billion of its own stock in the third quarter while the cash and Treasury bills held by its insurance and other businesses fell to $352.3 billion, according to its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30.

Three quarters, three lower cash totals

Berkshire reports the cash, cash equivalents and U.S. Treasury Bills held by its insurance and other businesses, net of payables for unsettled purchases, in the management discussion of each quarterly report. The three 2026 reports show a steady decline:

Date	Cash and Treasury bills, net
March 31, 2026	$373.5 billion
June 30, 2026	$359.2 billion
September 30, 2026	$352.3 billion

Source: Berkshire Hathaway Form 10-Q reports for the first, second and third quarters of 2026.

The total fell $14.3 billion in the second quarter and $6.9 billion in the third, a $21.2 billion decline since March (computed). Over the same six months, the investments in equity and fixed maturity securities, excluding equity method investments, rose to $352.6 billion from $305.7 billion, the filings show.

Buybacks picked up in the quarter

Berkshire said it acquired $14.4 billion of treasury stock in the first nine months of 2026, including purchases in September that settled in October. The second-quarter report put the six-month figure at $4.8 billion, so the third quarter accounts for roughly $9.6 billion (computed).

The 10-Q's repurchase table shows the pace by month. Berkshire bought 3,131,323 Class B shares at an average of $496.24 in July, 1,548,314 at $503.99 in August and 7,705,322 at $506.64 in September, along with small numbers of Class A shares each month. The program does not set a minimum or maximum, and Berkshire said it will not buy back stock if that would take consolidated cash, cash equivalents and Treasury bills below $30 billion.

Earnings fell with the investment gains

Net earnings attributable to Berkshire shareholders were $22.1 billion in the third quarter, down from $30.8 billion a year earlier, a decline of 28.2% (computed). Investment gains, which Berkshire says usually produce significant volatility in its earnings, were $9.4 billion, against $17.3 billion in the third quarter of 2025.

The operating businesses did better. Earnings from manufacturing, service and retailing rose to $4.0 billion from $3.6 billion, and BNSF, the railroad, earned $1.7 billion after $1.4 billion. Insurance underwriting earned $1.4 billion, down from $2.4 billion. For the first nine months, net earnings were $57.9 billion, compared with $47.8 billion a year earlier.

Cash also went to a chemical plant owner and a homebuilder

Two acquisitions explain part of the shift. Berkshire bought OxyChem on January 2 for about $9.4 billion, and it completed the purchase of Taylor Morrison Home Corporation, a national community developer and homebuilder, on July 24 for about $6.8 billion in cash, the 10-Q says. The homebuilder purchase and the quarter's stock repurchases add up to about $16.4 billion (computed), while the cash and Treasury bills total fell $6.9 billion over the same quarter.

A smaller cushion that is still very large

Our reading is that Berkshire is spending down its cash at a measured pace, not abandoning it. A pile that has shrunk 5.7% since March (computed) is still $352.3 billion, and the company keeps its floor of $30 billion.

We think the more useful signal is what the cash is being used for: buying its own shares at prices Berkshire's chief executive judges to be below intrinsic value. The opportunity is a lower share count if that judgment holds; the threat is that buybacks at higher prices return less per dollar, and the 10-Q shows the average Class B price rising each month from July to September. We expect the pace of repurchases to depend on that price, not on the cash balance, and we would watch the next quarter's repurchase table. Our view would change if the cash pile fell by more than the stock purchases and acquisitions explain. This is a forecast for general information only.

The view in this final section is FinanceInTime's editorial opinion, for information only. It is not investment, tax, legal or other advice, and it does not take your circumstances into account. Forecasts are uncertain and past results do not guarantee future ones.