"Abel, who took over from Warren Buffett in January, shelled out roughly $225 million to repurchase 309 million of Berkshire's Class A shares on Wednesday, March 4, the company's proxy statement revealed on Friday. That's a notable shift in strategy for Berkshire, which didn't buy back a single share during Buffett's final six quarters in charge."
"Buffett has long said he would only repurchase Berkshire stock when it traded at a material discount to its intrinsic value, conservatively estimated. When he scrapped buybacks in mid-2024, it signaled that he no longer saw his own company's shares as a bargain."
"Abel said in his first televised interview on March 5 that after consulting with Buffett, he had restarted buybacks on March 4. Berkshire's proxy statement only provides the company's share count at the end of that day, meaning it may have continued repurchases since then."
Greg Abel, Berkshire Hathaway's new CEO as of January, executed his first major strategic move by repurchasing $225 million worth of Berkshire shares on March 4, acquiring 309 million Class A shares. This marks a significant shift from Buffett's final six quarters, during which Berkshire conducted zero buybacks, indicating Buffett viewed the stock as overpriced. Berkshire had previously repurchased over $20 billion annually in 2020 and 2021, but buybacks declined sharply in 2022-2023 before stopping entirely in mid-2024. Abel consulted with Buffett before restarting the repurchase program. Berkshire has accumulated a record $373 billion in cash and liquid assets while remaining a net stock seller for 13 quarters, as Buffett struggled to identify attractive acquisition opportunities in an expensive market.
Read at Business Insider
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]