Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway dramatically slowed new investment in the second quarter after setting a blistering pace at the start of the year, as the US stock market sell-off pushed the insurance-to-railroad conglomerate to a $43.8bn loss.
Berkshire said on Saturday that the drop in global financial markets had weighed heavily on its stock portfolio which fell in value to $328bn, from $391bn at the end of March. The $53bn booked loss in the three months to June far outweighed an upbeat quarter for its businesses, which improved their profitability.
The company’s filing with US securities regulators showed its purchases of new stocks dwindled to about $6.2bn in the quarter, down from the $51.1bn it spent between January and March — a spurt that surprised Berkshire shareholders. Berkshire sold $2.3bn of stocks in the latest three-month period.