Why Warren Buffett is making less money now

The world’s most famous investor, Warren Buffett, holding company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc today posted a lower operating profit as the COVID-19 pandemic weighed on some of its holding segments.

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Why it’s happening: In a report credited to Reuters, Berkshire Hathaway Inc explained it bought a record $9.3 billion of its underperforming stock in the quarter and $16 billion in 2020 as Buffett remained unable to find huge acquisitions to boost growth.

• Third-quarter operating profit dropped by 32% to $5.48 billion, or about $3,488 per Class A share, from $8.07 billion a year earlier.
• The holding company partly owned by Warren Buffet disclosed most of its operating business interests have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, though in the Q3, many such businesses witnessed significant increases in earnings and growth from Q2.

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Berkshire Hathaway had earlier printed a $26.3 billion Q2 profit but lost $49.75 billion in Q1. It ended September with $145.7 billion of cash and equivalents.

What you should know: Buffett is the chairman and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway, the investment group according to the Bloomberg billionaire index is now worth $79.1 billion, unsurprisingly missing out of the top five rankings as it weighed on his company’s valuation.

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Recall Nairametrics some months ago broke the news on Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc buying a new 20.9 million shares in Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp, one of the world’s largest mining companies.

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It had earlier minimized some of its investments in America’s top banks. This includes America’s most valuable bank, JPMorgan Chase, and other leading financial brands like Wells Fargo & Co and eliminating a stake in Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

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