CNBC reported that Berkshire Hathaway’s Class B shares gained nearly 9% from Oct. 1 through Oct. 23. Over the same period, the S&P 500 fell 0.4% and the equal-weight NYSE FANG+ index lost 4.8%, the outlet said.
Class A closed at $820,500 on Oct. 22, and Class B at $546.97. CNBC described both finishes as all-time closing records. On Friday, Oct. 23, Class A fell 0.84% to $813,595 and Class B dropped 0.87% to $542.19. Both prices remained above their May 2, 2025, finishes: $809,350 for Class A and $539.80 for Class B.
That May date was the last session before Warren Buffett proposed a leadership change. At a Q&A before Berkshire’s annual meeting on May 3, 2025, Buffett said he would recommend Abel as CEO. The board voted unanimously the next day to appoint Abel president and CEO, with the role taking effect Jan. 1, 2026. Berkshire said in its announcement that Buffett would remain chairman.
CNBC reported that Class A fell 4.9% and Class B 5.1% on May 5, the first trading session after Buffett’s remarks. Berkshire’s first-quarter report showed $9.641 billion in operating earnings for the first quarter of 2025, compared with $11.222 billion for the same period in 2024.
Berkshire’s filing for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, listed $35.096 billion in cash and equivalents for “Insurance and Other” and $5.513 billion for “Railroad, Utilities and Energy.” It also reported $324.905 billion in short-term U.S. Treasury bills, putting those listed holdings at about $365.5 billion combined. The figures accompany our earlier coverage of Berkshire’s second-quarter stock buying.
Berkshire’s operations include insurance, rail transportation, energy and power utilities, manufacturing, services and retail, according to its first-quarter report. CNBC linked some of the October performance to investors shifting away from technology and AI shares amid questions about returns on computing-infrastructure spending. Adam Patti of VistaShares told CNBC the market had “finally decided Abel can, in fact, run it.”
