Berkshire Hathaway shares drop more than 4% after poor fourth-quarter results, no bold moves by new CEO Abel

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Berkshire Hathaway

shares fell Monday after the conglomerate reported a sharp decline in fourth-quarter operating earnings, while new CEO Greg Abel offered few signs of an immediate strategic shift in his first communication with shareholders.

Class A shares of the Omaha-based conglomerate slid 4.8% to start the week. The stock’s decline came after Berkshire posted operating earnings of $10.2 billion for the fourth quarter, down more than 29% from $14.56 billion a year earlier. The drop was driven largely by weakness in the insurance business, where underwriting profits tumbled 54% to $1.56 billion from $3.41 billion in the year-earlier period.

The results mark an early challenge for Abel, who succeeded Warren Buffett as CEO at the start of 2026. While investors had broadly praised Abel’s first annual shareholder letter for reaffirming Berkshire’s long-standing culture of financial strength and disciplined investing, some had hoped for more aggressive signals on capital deployment given the company’s swelling cash balance.