On February 28, 2026, Berkshire Hathaway released its 2025 Letter to Shareholders.

This is the first shareholder letter in the company's history written by new CEO Greg Abel himself, and it also officially declares that Berkshire has entered the "post-Buffett era".

However, Abel gave investors a "reassurance" at the beginning: 95-year-old Warren AndersonBuffett is still the chairman of the company and is still active in his post five days a week.

In the face of various speculations about the company's future direction, Abel responded frankly: "With simple arithmetic, you can understand - I can't be CEO for 60 years like Warren, that goal is too high." But I really hope that in twenty years, when you or your children mention Berkshire, they will be proud of how strong it has become. ”

The letter pays tribute to the legend and conveys confidence: Buffett's spirit is still there, and a new generation of helmsmen has firmly taken over.

With 370 billion cash in hand, Berkshire does not pay dividends but is more valuable

Berkshire has more than $370 billion in cash and U.S. Treasury bonds at a record high - this "ammunition" has kept it as stable as a mountain in a volatile market.

In the face of questions from the outside world, "Do you dare not invest in hoarding so much cash?" The new CEO Greg Abel responded directly: "This money is not idle, but double protection - one is to support our huge insurance business, and the other is to allow us not only to stand firm, but also to buy the bottom when the next financial crisis comes."

He emphasized that Berkshire's long-term goal has always been to buy good companies that can continue to make money, rather than just holding on to Treasury bonds and eating interest. Because of this, the company made a decisive move in 2025 and acquired two high-quality companies, OxyChem and Bell Labs.

As for the issue of "dividends" that shareholders are most concerned about, Abel is very clear: "As long as the company can create more than $1 of value for shareholders for every $1 left by the company, we will resolutely not pay dividends."

However, he also reiterated an important return path: when Berkshire's stock price falls below its intrinsic value, the company prioritizes buying back shares - which is more effective than dividends because it directly increases the value per share.

Grasp the surge in power demand by AI

With the outbreak of AI, the demand for electricity in data centers has skyrocketed, and electricity has become the new "oil". As the "pillar" of Berkshire's non-insurance business, Berkshire Hathaway Energy (BHE) is ushering in a round of major investment opportunities.

But the new CEO, Greg Abel, has a very sober attitude: although the opportunity is great, the rules cannot be broken.

He made it clear: "The cost of building infrastructure such as dedicated power grids and substations for large AI and cloud computing companies should be borne by the customers themselves." After all, their electricity demand could skyrocket today and plummet tomorrow – a risk that power companies can't bear. ”

Berkshire will only move forward with such projects if the risks and rewards match.

In addition, in response to huge claims caused by frequent wildfires in the western United States (such as wildfires caused by power lines, utilities are often held accountable), Abel drew a hard bottom line: "Our Pacific Power Company is not an 'ATM'! If the accident is not our responsibility, we will never pay for it silently - we will fight a lawsuit when it is time to fight a lawsuit and resolutely safeguard the interests of the company and shareholders. ”

The insurance ballast stone is as stable as Mount Tai, but Berkshire chooses to "not roll"

In 2025, Berkshire handed over a solid "fundamentals" report card: operating profit of $44.5 billion (slightly lower than $47.4 billion in 2024, but significantly higher than 375 in the past five years). billion average); Net cash flow from operating activities is as high as $46 billion - indicating that the company's "hematopoietic ability" is very strong.

Among them, the insurance business is still Berkshire's most stable "ballast stone": at the end of the year, the insurance float (that is, the premiums paid by customers first, the money that has not yet been lost) soared to $176 billion, a full double of ten years ago (88 billion); The combined cost ratio of the property and casualty business is only 87.1% – which means that for every $100 in premiums collected, only $87.1 is spent on claims and operations, leaving 12.9The dollar is profit and performs very well.

However, the new CEO Abel also gave a "preventive shot" in advance: "Now a large amount of capital is pouring into the insurance and reinsurance market, resulting in the start of price wars for many insurance types, and rates cannot rise or even fall." We always adhere to the principle of 'it's better to do less than make money' - so when the price is not good enough, we take the initiative to reduce the number of orders. ”

The result: premium income growth has temporarily stopped.

He expects this pressure to continue in 2026 or even longer, and the main insurance business will face a stage of "difficulty in increasing volume and price pressure".

Knock on backward businesses and stick to the strategy of concentrating positions in the United States and Japan

Under Berkshire's "let go but not let go" management model, the new CEO Greg Abel is merciless to the lagging business and directly "beats".

For example, its Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Company (BNSF), one of the six major freight railroads in the United States, has increased its operating profit margin to 34.5%, but Abel bluntly said: "It's not enough!" Compared with the top level of the industry, the gap is still obvious. ”

He clearly warned that if performance does not improve significantly in the next few years, management will be "deeply disappointed" by the company.

In terms of stock investment, Berkshire continues to adhere to the strategy of "less but fine": by the end of 2025, two-thirds (about $194 billion) of its nearly $300 billion stock portfolio; The four core holdings in the United States: Apple, American Express, Coca-Cola, and Moody's; Japan's five major trading companies: Mitsubishi, Itochu, Mitsui, Marubeni, and Sumitomo.

These high-quality assets brought a total of $2.5 billion in dividends that year, making them veritable "cash cows".

Abel emphasized: "We will continue to hold these leaders in a concentrated manner and will not buy or sell them easily. At the same time, he also frankly admitted that his investment in Kraft Heinz "fell far short of expectations" and was a public admission of mistakes.