Berkshire Hathaway smashes Q2 earnings, but Greg Abel shows no sign of openness to crypto

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A, BRK.B) came out of the second quarter with much stronger operating profit, while CEO Greg Abel kept the company’s position on crypto firmly cold.

Earnings from Berkshire Hathaway’s operating businesses rose 16% to $12.98 billion, compared with $11.16 billion in the same quarter last year.

Berkshire Hathaway spent about $4.5 billion buying back its own stock during Q2, far above the $235 million used for repurchases during the first quarter.

Berkshire also bought more public stocks than it sold for the first time after 14 straight quarters of being a net seller. Net stock buying came close to $20 billion during the three months through June.

Berkshire Hathaway spends more cash as energy, railroads and manufacturing push profit higher

The operating numbers were led by businesses outside insurance. Berkshire’s manufacturing, service, and retail companies produced $4.47 billion in earnings, representing a 24% increase from the comparable period last year.

Berkshire Hathaway’s giant cash balance fell as Greg started spending more of it. The company finished June with $365.5 billion in cash, down from the record $397.4 billion it held three months earlier. Some of that money went into share repurchases and stock purchases.

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