(That is the Warren Buffett Watch e-newsletter, information and evaluation on all issues Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. You’ll be able to enroll right here to obtain it each Friday night in your inbox.)
Buffett stays energetic at 96, however Berkshire’s shares aren’t doing a lot
That places it 12.2 share factors behind the benchmark S&P 500, which is up 12.7% on the yr.
Whereas acknowledging it is “onerous to say” why Berkshire’s inventory is lagging, Barron’s lists of variety of doable explanations, together with uncertainty over Greg Abel as CEO, disappointment he hasn’t been extra aggressively lowering the corporate’s nonetheless massive money place, Berkshire’s persevering with refusal to pay a dividend, and its failure to make an enormous acquisition of $100 billion or extra.
President Trump’s portfolio actively trades Berkshire shares
Berkshire Hathaway is among the many shares being often purchased and offered for President Donald Trump’s funding portfolio.
Of the 1,051 transactions listed in his disclosure type overlaying the month of June for the U.S. Workplace of Authorities Ethics, 5 contain Berkshire’s inventory.
4 of them specify Berkshire’s Class B shares, whereas one simply lists Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
There have been three purchases and two gross sales.
The disclosure type solely lists a spread for every transaction, not a certain quantity, so we will solely take a look at a spread of totals.
Because of the June 18 buy between $1 million and $5 million, Trump was a web purchaser for the month.
In Trump’s 2025 annual report, he experiences holding between $1 million and $5 million price of Berkshire shares.
A specialist dealer works at his submit on the ground on the New York Inventory Change, Jan. 21, 2026.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
After reviewing 1000’s of trades in earlier disclosures, Bloomberg reported the “patterns bear the hallmarks of overlapping portfolio-management methods, typically index-based and far of it probably automated, and all of it troublesome to disentangle.”
It says that is largely in step with the Trump Group’s public statements that third-party monetary establishments independently handle the buying and selling utilizing “automated, model-based portfolios and direct indexing methods” with no enter from the president or his household.
Critics argue the president, together with prime administration officers and members of Congress, shouldn’t be allowed to personal particular person shares to allow them to keep away from even the looks of impropriety.
BUFFETT & BERKSHIRE AROUND THE INTERNET
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM CNBC’S BUFFETT ARCHIVE
‘Commerce shouldn’t be a weapon’ (2025)
With out specifying President Trump’s controversial tariffs, Warren Buffett argues the U.S. “ought to be trying to commerce with the remainder of the world.”
BECKY QUICK: This primary query comes from Invoice Mitchell. I obtained extra questions on this than another query.
He writes, “Warren, in a 2003 Fortune article you argued for import certificates to restrict commerce deficits and mentioned these import certificates mainly amounted to a tariff. However just lately, you referred to as tariffs an act of financial conflict.
“Has your view on commerce obstacles modified? Or do you see import certificates as one way or the other distinct from tariffs?”
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, nicely, the import certificates had been distinct, however their objective is to steadiness imports towards exports. And in order that the commerce deficit wouldn’t develop in an unlimited means.
Actually, it might’ve — and it had varied different provisions in it to assist third world nations — at the moment, as they had been referred to as — to maybe catch up somewhat bit.
And so they had a wide range of points to them. However mainly, they had been designed to steadiness commerce.
And I feel you can also make some superb arguments for the truth that balanced commerce is nice for the world. And the extra balanced commerce there’s, the higher.
It is going to proceed to be higher for cocoa to be raised in Ghana, and occasional in Colombia, and some issues…
We ought to be trying to commerce with the remainder of the world, and we should always do what we do greatest, and they need to do what they do greatest…
Commerce shouldn’t be a weapon.
And america — america — we have gained. I imply, now we have turn into an extremely essential nation, ranging from nothing 250 years in the past. There’s nothing that is been something prefer it.
And it is a huge mistake, in my opinion, when you’ve seven and a half billion individuals that do not such as you very nicely, and you have got 300 million which are crowing in a roundabout way about how nicely they’ve accomplished.
And I do not assume it is proper, and I do not assume it is sensible.
I do assume that the extra — the extra affluent the remainder of the world turns into — it will not be at our expense — the extra affluent we’ll turn into and can then — the safer we’ll really feel, and your kids will really feel sometime. In order that’s — (Applause)
However do not anticipate my import certificates thought to go down there with Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations or something. (Laughter)
BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH
BRK.A inventory worth: $757,985.01
BRK.B inventory worth: $505.00
BRK.B P/E (TTM): 12.70
Berkshire market capitalization: $1,081,295,529,555
Berkshire Money as of June 30: $365.5 billion (Down 8.0% from March 31)
Excluding Rail Money and Subtracting T-Payments Payable: $359.2 billion (Down 3.8% from March 31)
Berkshire repurchased $4.5 billion of its shares in Q2 2026.
BERKSHIRE’S TOP EQUITY HOLDINGS – Aug. 28, 2026
Berkshire’s prime holdings of disclosed publicly traded shares within the U.S. and Japan, by market worth, primarily based on the most recent closing costs.
Holdings are as of June 30, 2026, as reported in Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F submitting on Aug.14, 2026, apart from:
The complete checklist of holdings and present market values is obtainable from CNBC.com’s Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS
Please ship any questions or feedback concerning the e-newsletter to me at alex.crippen@cnbc.com. (Sorry, however we do not ahead questions or feedback to Buffett himself.)
If you happen to aren’t already subscribed to this text, you may enroll right here.
Additionally, Buffett’s annual letters to shareholders are extremely really useful studying. There are collected right here on Berkshire’s web site.
— Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch
