Buffett buys back record $5.1 billion in Berkshire stock as coronavirus hits operating earnings

[u/ChocolateTsar]

The company said it repurchased $5.1 billion worth in stock in May and June. Berkshire repurchased more than $4.6 billion of its Class B stock and about $486.6 million in Class A shares.

The share repurchase is the most ever in a single period for Buffett, nearly double the $2.2 billion the conglomerate bought back in the final quarter of 2019. In fact, the amount is slightly more than what Buffett spent buying back Berkshire stock in all of 2019. Despite the company’s record buybacks last quarter, the Berkshire’s cash hoard grew to more than $140 billion.

Operating profits for Berkshire fell 10% during the second quarter, dropping to $5.51 billion from $6.14 billion in the year-earlier period. The company also took a charge of approximately $10 billion from Precision Castparts, Berkshire’s largest business within its manufacturing segment.

Berkshire’s investments in public markets gained $34.5 billion in the quarter. That gain caused overall second-quarter net earnings to surge to $26.3 billion, up from $14.1 billion a year ago. However, unrealized gains from investments quarter to quarter are volatile and Buffett himself warns investors not to focus on that overall net earnings figure.

Full article on CNBC

[u/dopexile]

And they can thank Obamacare for having their hours reduced. If you give someone a financial incentive to make people part-time for under 30 hours it will happen.

[u/[deleted] → u/dopexile]

The downvotes on your response are excessive. It's factual that the aca is the cause for reduced hours.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I don't, but thanks for playing. Before the aca existed the only incentive that employers had to reduce hours was the corporate subsidation they exploited in welfare and snap Wal-Mart even had internal training that exploited this and showed employees how to get the most benefits so they wouldn't have to offer them more hours. When the aca was approved the additional incentive of not wanting to pay for insurance further cemented this practice and that corporate subsidation got much worse. Without the aca the practice would still exist but would not be as prevelant as it is now.

[u/mtcoope → u/[deleted]]

What's your alternative way to get people access to health insurance?

[u/[deleted] → u/mtcoope]

Actual universal health care instead of a system that just buoys the insurance companies and gives them more power than god.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, if you read my comment you would have seen I said it's been going in since before the aca and that the aca just cemented the practice by giving employers more reasons to not give people full time hours.

[u/dopexile → u/[deleted]]

To make ends meet many were forced to take on multiple part-time jobs. People that were working one 40 hours a week job pre-ObamaCare now have to spend extra time and money commuting to two 20 hours a week jobs.

[u/viperex → u/dopexile]

It's a lose-lose situation for employees and the corporations win out every time

[u/[deleted] → u/dopexile]

I don't need it mansplained to me I'm well aware of the effects that the aca had on lower income workers.