(Bloomberg) — Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s insurance businesses took a hit in the third quarter as the sector grappled with the fallout from Hurricane Ian and increased frequency and severity of claims in the auto space.
- The conglomerate run by billionaire Warren Buffett posted a $962 million loss on its insurance underwriting businesses, the company said in a statement Saturday. That helped drag down the firm’s earnings for the three months through September.
- The firm’s Geico car insurance unit recorded a $759 million pretax loss amid inflation and elevated car prices, nearly tripling the loss posted in the same period last year.
- The company repurchased $1.05 billion of shares in the period, in line with the approximately $1 billion bought back in the prior three months. Buffett has increasingly turned to buybacks as a way of deploying cash when opportunities are otherwise sparse.
Key Insights
- The company’s cash hoard increased slightly to $109 billion as Buffett maintained its stash of dry powder amid a market downturn spurred by economic fears.
- Berkshire also reported a net loss of $2.69 billion primarily due to losses on its investment and derivatives portfolio.
- For the first time, Berkshire included results from Occidental Petroleum Corp. in its report after its stake in the company surpassed 20% earlier this year. Including warrants, the conglomerate owns almost 30% of the oil firm.
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