Berkshire shares suffer longest losing streak in more than 7 years

In this article

• BRK.B
• .SPX
• 8766.T-JP
• 8001.T-JP
• 8002.T-JP
• 8058.T-JP
• 8031.T-JP
• 8053.T-JP
• BRK.A

Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT

(This is the Warren Buffett Watch newsletter, news and analysis on all things Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. You can sign up here to receive it every Friday evening in your inbox.)

Berkshire shares suffer longest losing streak in more than 7 years

Shares of Berkshire Hathaway have lost ground for eight consecutive days.

It is their longest losing streak since eight straight sessions of losses in December of 2018.

The Class A shares are down 4.7% and the Class B shares have dropped 4.9% since their most recent daily gains on March 17.

Berkshire is falling along with the overall market, which has been hit by rising energy prices and global uncertainty from the Iran war.

While the S&P 500 index has not seen a string of daily losses, it is down 5.2% over the same period.

Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards

Berkshire’s year-to-date losses are close to the S&P’s 7% drop. The benchmark index is on a five-week losing streak.

Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards

Berkshire’s stock prices are down more than 13% since Warren Buffett announced at last year’s shareholders meeting that he would be stepping down as CEO at the of 2025.

They are roughly 2% above their August lows but have fallen below two more recent lows in early November and late January.

Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards

Berkshire’s new Japanese investment soars in value

Berkshire Hathaway’s newest investment in Japan is off to a strong start.

Shares of Tokio Marine Holdings soared more than 24% this week after Monday’s announcement that Berkshire’s National Indemnity is paying $1.8 billion for a stake of almost 2.5% in Japan’s oldest insurance company, which Barron’s calls _“_one of the world’s best-run property and casualty insurers.”

Today, Berkshire’s new purchase has a market value of almost $2.3 billion.

Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards

The two companies will also collaborate in reinsurance and look for strategic investments around the world.

In a Tokio Marine news release, the company said Berkshire’s corporate culture and values “closely align with those of our own.”

It added, “Importantly, this is not merely a business alliance. We believe that it establishes a long-term strategic relationship anchored by an equity stake that will serve as a powerful catalyst for the medium- to long-term growth of both companies.”

Ajit Jain speaks during the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 3, 2025.

CNBC

Berkshire’s insurance chief Ajit Jain is quoted as saying, “We expect this Strategic Partnership to create compelling long-term opportunities for both organizations.”

Barron’s reports Jain oversaw the investment “and likely involved former CEO Warren Buffett, now serving as chairman of the board.”

“The deal shows Berkshire’s ability to strike insurance deals is undiminished even as Buffett has given up the CEO job in favor of Greg Abel. That’s a good sign for Berkshire given the importance of insurance to the $1 trillion market value company.”

Tokio Marine

Tokio Marine issued new shares for Berkshire to purchase. It plans to buy back an equal amount of its already-issued stock to prevent dilution for existing shareholders.

Berkshire will be allowed to increase its stake to just under 10% through open-market purchases. It would need approval from Tokio Marine’s board to go higher.

Insurance Business notes Tokio Marine has spent more than $17 billion over the past two decades for acquisitions in the U.S., including Philadelphia Insurance Companies and Delphi Insurance Group.

It expects the new partnership “could accelerate that trajectory through Berkshire’s deal-sourcing reach and reinsurance capacity.”

Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards

Berkshire is presumably hoping to repeat the enormous success of its investments in five Japanese trading houses: Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsubishi (all-time closing high Friday), Mitsui, and Sumitomo.

The company had already been building its positions for twelve months when Buffett initially revealed the stakes in August 2020. It’s been adding to the positions since then.

In just the last 52 weeks, they are up between 42% and 124%, with a total market value of more than $44 billion.

BUFFETT & BERKSHIRE AROUND THE INTERNET

Some links may require a subscription:

• Wall Street Journal on MSN: The corporate breakup specialist who stopped the split of Kraft Heinz

• Reuters: Exclusive: Occidental’s Hollub, US oil’s most powerful woman, prepares to hand over reins, sources say

• CNBC Pro (subscription): Berkshire Hathaway resumed buybacks. But the shares aren’t particularly cheap

• Barron’s on MSN: He was Warren Buffett’s protégé. Now he’s running money for Jamie Dimon.

• World-Grain.com: Rail merger ‘not good for our industry,’ says BNSF CEO

• Fortune on MSN: Kalshi takes a page from Warren Buffett’s March Madness playbook by offering $1 billion for a perfect bracket

BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH

Four weeks

Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards

12 months

Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards

BRK.A stock price: $703,700.00

BRK.B stock price: $468.49

BRK.B P/E (TTM): 15.09

Berkshire market capitalization: $1,010,965,573,250

Berkshire Cash as of December 31: $373.3 billion (Down 2.2% from Sept. 30)

Excluding Rail Cash and Subtracting T-Bills Payable: $369.0 billion (Up 4.1% from September 30)

Berkshire resumed stock repurchases on March 4, 2026.

(All figures are as of the date of publication, unless otherwise indicated)

BERKSHIRE’S TOP EQUITY HOLDINGS - Mar. 27, 2026

Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards

Berkshire’s top holdings of disclosed publicly traded stocks in the U.S. and Japan, by market value, based on the latest closing prices.

Holdings are as of September 30, 2025, as reported in Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F filing on November 14, 2025, except for:

• Mitsubishi, which is as of August 28, 2025
• Mitsui, which is as of September 30, 2025

The full list of holdings and current market values is available from CNBC.com’s Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS

Please send any questions or comments about the newsletter to me at alex.crippen@nbcuni.com. (Sorry, but we don’t forward questions or comments to Buffett himself.)

If you aren’t already subscribed to this newsletter, you can sign up here.

Also, Buffett’s annual letters to shareholders are highly recommended reading. There are collected here on Berkshire’s website.

– Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch

Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.