Berkshire shares left behind as S&P 500 rallies to record high
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Berkshire shares lag behind as S&P 500 rises to record high
At the close on March 31, Berkshire shares were nearly on par with the S&P, with losses of around 4.7% since the beginning of the year.
The previous day, Berkshire B was 1.8 percentage points ahead of S&P, gaining its biggest lead of the year.
It closed 9.7 percentage points behind the index on Friday; This is the biggest difference so far in 2026.
On its own terms, Berkshire shares haven’t been performing very well since closing at record highs on May 2, 2025, just before Warren Buffett announced he would list his shares. Resigning as CEO at the end of that year.
Although they are about 3% above their early August lows, both classes are down slightly more than 12% since Buffett’s announcement.
Berkshire’s financial history is being updated
BUFFETT & BERKSHİRE ON THE INTERNET
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM CNBC’S BUFFETT ARCHIVE
‘We do not hold grudges for the taxes we pay’ (2014)
Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger explain Why don’t they try to pay US taxes?
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: “Berkshire paid $8.9 billion in taxes in 2013. Pfizer is currently considering an acquisition that would allow it to move its technical holding company overseas, thereby saving income tax expenses and creating shareholder value. Is this something you and Charlie would ever consider if it would create value for Berkshire shareholders?”
WARREN BUFFET: I think the answer to this is no.
What do you say, Charlie? (Applause)
Charlie Munger: I think that would happen… I think it would be crazy to be as prosperous as Berkshire and reduce our taxes to zero while remaining this prosperous. This would not be a legitimate ideal. (Applause)
WARREN BUFFET: Yes.
We couldn’t do Berkshire in any other country other than America. You know, look at what we’ve acquired and everything.
In a very, very big way, America helped Charlie and I become very, very rich. (Laughs). Charlie?
Charlie Munger: I have no complaints. When I look around, I look at this group, I see you at breakfast, a very happy group of people.
I don’t think many people gnash their teeth because someone else has a little more.
WARREN BUFFET: But we don’t pay – I don’t want to make these things holier than thou. We don’t pay anything beyond that – when we calculate the tax on our 20,000-plus page return, we don’t – we don’t add a 20 percent or 15 percent tip or anything like that. (Laughter)
And we do some tax-based transactions. We’re on low-income housing tax credits, actually George Bush41 congratulated me on that. So it’s bipartisan.
The wind power deals we do, the solar deals we do, they are taxable, so otherwise they wouldn’t make economic sense.
So we follow the rules.
But we do not hold grudges about the taxes we pay. We made a lot of money paying US taxes. (Applause)
BERKSHire SHARE TIME
BRK.A stock price: ~$711,558.8
BRK.B share price: $474.58
BRK.BP/E (TTM): 15.29
Berkshire market cap: $1,023,449,080,531
Berkshire Cash as of December 31: $373.3 billion (down 2.2% from September 30)
Excluding railroad cash and issuance of treasury bills payable: $369.0 billion (up 4.1% from September 30)
Berkshire resumed share buybacks on March 4, 2026, but did not say whether it made any additional purchases after that date.
(All figures are as of the date of publication unless otherwise stated)
BERKSHire’S LARGEST SHAREHOLDING HOLDINGS – April 17, 2026
Berkshire’s top listed publicly traded stocks in the U.S. and Japan by market capitalization based on their latest closing prices.
Holdings as of September 30, 2025, as reported. Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F application On November 14, 2025, except:
A complete list of holdings and current market values is available on CNBC.com’s Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS
Please send me any questions or comments about the newsletter at: alex.crippen@nbcuni.com. (We’re sorry, but we do not forward questions or comments to Buffett himself.)
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Additionally, reading Buffett’s annual letters to shareholders is highly recommended. There are people gathered on Berkshire’s website here.
— Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch
