Warren Buffett's successor Greg Abel oversees a 119% jump from the prior quarter as the conglomerate's investment portfolio roars back to life
Berkshire Hathaway posted $25.667 billion in net income for the second quarter of 2026, more than doubling the $10.106 billion it earned in Q1. Investment gains of $10.9 billion did a lot of the heavy lifting, marking a sharp reversal from a stretch where those gains had turned negative.
The earnings release dropped on August 8 at 7:00 a.m. Central Time, and the numbers came in roughly where Wall Street expected. Analysts had penciled in around $5.24 per Class B share equivalent, with total revenue projections near $95.3 billion.
The Abel era is off to a quiet start, and that’s the point
Greg Abel officially took the CEO chair in January 2026, inheriting arguably the most watched succession in American corporate history. Operating earnings climbed 18% year-over-year, suggesting the conglomerate’s sprawling collection of businesses, spanning insurance, railroads, utilities, manufacturing, and retail, is humming along without skipping a beat.
Abel hasn’t been shy about deploying capital either. Berkshire completed its takeover of homebuilder Taylor Morrison and closed a $9.7 billion acquisition of OxyChem, Occidental Petroleum’s chemicals division. In June, the company plowed $10 billion into Alphabet, adding one of the world’s largest tech companies to its portfolio.
What drove the investment gains
The $10.9 billion in investment gains reflects the quarterly mark-to-market swings that have made Berkshire’s bottom line famously volatile since accounting rules changed in 2018. Under those rules, unrealized gains and losses on the company’s massive equity portfolio flow directly through the income statement, whether or not a single share is sold.
The 18% year-over-year growth in operating earnings tells a steadier story. Insurance underwriting, historically Berkshire’s profit engine, appears to have contributed meaningfully. The company’s insurance float, essentially money collected from policyholders before claims are paid, gives Berkshire a massive pool of low-cost capital to invest.
The acquisition pipeline keeps expanding
The Taylor Morrison acquisition expands Berkshire’s footprint in residential construction, a sector that benefits from the persistent US housing shortage. OxyChem adds a chemicals business with stable cash flows to the already diversified empire.
What Berkshire hasn’t done is chase the digital asset wave. The company has maintained no meaningful exposure to Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. Under Abel, that posture appears unchanged.
