Berkshire Hathaway reports Q2 2026 net income of $25.7B, powered by massive investment gains

Berkshire Hathaway posted $25.667 billion in net income for the second quarter of 2026, more than doubling the $10.106 billion it earned in Q1. Investment gains of $10.9 billion did a lot of the heavy lifting, marking a sharp reversal from a stretch where those gains had turned negative. The earnings release dropped on August 8 at 7:00 a.m. Central Time, and the numbers came in roughly where Wall Street expected. Analysts had penciled in around $5.24 per Class B share equivalent, with total revenue projections near $95.3 billion. The Abel era is off to a quiet start, and that’s the point Greg Abel officially took the CEO chair in January 2026, inheriting arguably the most watched succession in American corporate history. Operating earnings climbed 18% year-over-year, suggesting the conglomerate’s sprawling collection of businesses, spanning insurance, railroads, utilities, manufacturing, and retail, is humming along without skipping a beat. Abel hasn’t been shy about deploying capital either. Berkshire completed its takeover of homebuilder Taylor Morrison and closed a $9.7 billion acquisition of OxyChem, Occidental Petroleum’s chemicals division. In June, the company plowed $10 bil...