After stellar fourth-quarter earnings, Warren Buffett, in his letter to shareholders revealed that Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s BRK BRK performance exceeded his expectations. However, another important takeaway from his letter was Berkshire’s increasing investments in Japan.
What Happened: Terming it as a “small but important exception” to Berkshire’s U.S.-based focus, Buffett highlighted the company’s growing investment in Japan.
Operationally similar to Berkshire, these Japanese companies own interests in a vast array of businesses, many based in Japan but others that operate throughout the world.
Buffett shared in his letter that Berkshire began purchasing shares in these five companies for almost six years, with the first one made in July 2019.
These companies include ITOCHU, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, and Sumitomo.
“We simply looked at their financial records and were amazed at the low prices of their stocks. As the years have passed, our admiration for these companies has consistently grown,” said Buffett.
These five companies demonstrate shareholder-friendly practices, according to Buffett. They increase dividends when appropriate, repurchase shares when advantageous, and maintain executive compensation programs that are significantly less excessive than those of their U.S. counterparts.
Why It Matters: Stating that “it won’t be long before Greg Abel replaces me as CEO and will be writing the annual letter,” Buffett added that both of them like these Japanese companies’ capital deployment strategy, management, and attitude for their investors.
Additionally, Buffett said that he was committed to long-term investments in these companies, supporting their boards and keeping holdings below 10% of each company’s shares. However, with Berkshire approaching this limit, the five companies have agreed to relax the ceiling, allowing Berkshire to further increase its ownership.
Berkshire reported a 71% increase in operating earnings to $14.5 billion for the fourth quarter. Whereas, its cash reserves increased to a record $334.2 billion at the end of 2024, marking the 10th consecutive quarter of growth.
Price Action: Berkshire’s class B shares fell 0.64% on Friday, logging in a growth of 6.13% in 2025 and 17.01% over last year.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF QQQ, which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, fell on Friday. SPY declined 1.71% to $599.94, and QQQ plunged 2.07% to $526.12, according to Benzinga Pro data
Read Next:
Photo courtesy: Shutterstock
Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
© 2025 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
