Four days ago we documented that Berkshire has lagged the S&P 500 by 2.8 percentage points per year since 2010. This piece asks the structural question: why? The answer is hiding in plain sight on the balance sheet. Berkshire's assets-to-equity ratio fell from 2.27× in 2009 to 1.70× in 2025 — a quarter of the company's structural leverage has quietly disappeared.
Berkshire's Q1 2026 13F shows a $2.65B position in Delta Air Lines — its first airline stake since the 2020 exit. The number is small; the substance isn't. Delta in 2026 isn't an airline so much as a loyalty franchise that flies planes, and three Berkshire airline acts over thirty-seven years trace an evolution in what "investing in airlines" even means.
Berkshire Hathaway Energy's Q1 2026 net earnings rose just 1.3%, but underneath the headline three sub-segments rotated violently: U.S. utilities −16.1%, natural gas pipelines +24.2%, and the Other Energy group −26.5% on a Northern Powergrid tariff reset. The piece dissects what is one quarter's noise and what is structural.
Greg Abel's first 107 days as Berkshire CEO produced a $9.7B chemicals deal, a $1.8B Japanese reinsurance stake, the first buyback since 2024, and a personal bet of his entire after-tax salary on BRK stock — all against the noisiest geopolitical backdrop in a generation. What the moves reveal about the next 20 years.
Berkshire Hathaway votes down every ESG shareholder proposal and publishes no conglomerate-wide sustainability report. Yet its subsidiaries have poured $38 billion into renewables, retired 22 coal units, and built some of the most progressive supply chains in American manufacturing. The real ESG record hides in plain sight — in the 10-K.
As Warren Buffett steps down after six decades, Greg Abel takes the helm of Berkshire Hathaway, a $1+ trillion empire. We analyze Abel’s fit as CEO—highlighting his deep operational expertise, Buffett’s mentorship while also weighing potential pitfalls like his lesser-known investment prowess and the daunting Buffett shadow.
Executive compensation is a delicate topic, especially if the (famous) chairman receives quite an unusual salary himself.