OMAHA (dpa-AFX) - Billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, BRK.B), Friday reported a drop in profit for the third quarter, reflecting the absence of a large one-time gain recorded last year.
Berkshire is a holding company with a number of operating subsidiaries like auto insurer Geico, reinsurer General Re, railroad BNSF, lubricant maker Lubrizol, energy utilities and a host of other manufacturing and retail companies. Berkshire also holds significant minority stake in Apple Inc. (AAPL)
The company's insurance underwriting business reported an operating earnings of $272 million compared to last year's $414 million. Insurance investment income rose to $850 million from $840 million last year. Railroad, utilities and energy unit's operating earnings for the quarter rose to $1.95 billion from $1.94 billion last year.
Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway reported third-quarter profit of $7.20 billion or $4,379 per share Class A share, down from $9.43 billion or $5,737 per Class A share last year. Last year's results included a $4.4 billion gain related to the Kraft Heinz Co.
Excluding items, operating earnings for the third quarter was $4.85 billion or $2,951 per share, up from $4.55 billion or $2,769 per share last year.
Total revenue for the third quarter rose to $59.07 billion from $58.99 billion in the same quarter last year.
Since the beginning of the year, Berkshire's equity has increased $13.7 billion and its book value per Class A equivalent share has increased by 5.3% to $163,783.
BRK-B shares closed Friday's trading at $214,545.00, down $456.00 or -0.21% on the NYSE.
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