On Wednesday, August 28th, Berkshire Hathaway’s market value exceeded $1 trillion, highlighting investors’ confidence in the conglomerate built by renowned investor Warren Buffett over nearly 60 years.
This also marks the first non-tech company in the United States to enter the trillion-dollar club, with many considering Berkshire Hathaway a representation of the American economy.
On Wednesday, Berkshire Hathaway joined the ranks of six other tech companies with a market value exceeding $1 trillion: Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, Google’s parent company Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook.
According to Reuters, the market valuation is based on Berkshire Hathaway’s 553,234 Class A shares and 13.25 billion Class B shares as of July 23. The company has slowed down its stock buybacks this year.
In early trading on Wednesday, the company’s Class A shares rose by 0.7% to $690,005.94.
Berkshire Hathaway’s dozens of insurance, energy, manufacturing, retail, and service businesses generated a profit of $22.8 billion in the first half of this year, a 26% increase compared to the same period last year. These businesses include Geico auto insurance, BNSF Railway, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Brooks running shoes, Dairy Queen, Ginsu knives, and World Book Encyclopedia.
Berkshire Hathaway’s stock has outperformed the S&P 500 index this year, marking one of its best annual starts in a decade. In 2024, the company’s stock price has risen by 28%, while the market benchmark has risen by 18%. The difference between Berkshire Hathaway and the seven major tech stocks is not significant: measuring the largest tech stocks, the index has risen by 35% this year.
Berkshire Hathaway also holds a substantial stock portfolio led by Apple, but the company has sold over half of its Apple shares this year. The sale of stocks contributed significantly to Berkshire Hathaway holding over $276.9 billion in cash equivalents as of June 30.
Buffett has spent most of his life building this vast business empire. Since 1965, Buffett has been at the helm of Berkshire Hathaway and will celebrate his 94th birthday on August 30.
When Berkshire Hathaway’s market value reached $1 trillion, the stock price has increased by over 56,000 times since Buffett took over, growing by approximately 20% annually, nearly double the annual return of the S&P 500 index (including dividends).
Since 2006, Buffett has donated over half of his shares to charitable organizations, but he still holds over 14% of Berkshire Hathaway’s shares. As of Tuesday, Buffett’s fortune is approximately $144.9 billion, ranking him as the sixth richest person globally according to Forbes magazine.