In the United States, there is a new member in the club of trillion-dollar companies – and for the first time, it is not a technology company.
On Tuesday morning, shares of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) briefly rose so high that the conglomerate’s market value rose to one trillion dollars. At the top of the list of the most valuable companies are Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft, all of which are worth more than three trillion dollars. Other companies valued at over one trillion dollars include Alphabet, Amazon and Meta.
The oldest of these companies is Microsoft, which was founded in 1975. Berkshire Hathaway, on the other hand, was founded in 1839 as a textile company. Its current CEO Warren Buffett acquired a majority stake in the company in 1965.
Earlier this year, Buffett, who turns 94 on Friday, warned in his annual letter to investors that further highs in performance were likely to be a thing of the past.
“Berkshire should perform slightly better than the average American company and, more importantly, should “We can also operate with a much lower risk of permanent capital loss,” he wrote. “Anything beyond ‘a little better,’ however, is wishful thinking.”
In the letter he also said: “We have NO Possibility of a breathtaking performance.”
However, since the publication of his February 24 letter, the company’s shares have risen more than 13%, and are up a whopping 28% year to date.
Berkshire Hathaway has been in selling mode for the past few months. Last quarter, it reduced its stake in Apple (AAPL) by 50%. Then on Tuesday, the company announced that it had sold nearly 25 million shares of Bank of America (BAC), valued at nearly $1 billion.
The company has also made some new acquisitions. It recently acquired shares in the cosmetics store chain Ulta Beauty (ULTA) and the aircraft parts manufacturer Heico (HEI).
Berkshire Hathaway continues to hold many of its top holdings, including a 21.3% stake in American Express (AXP), a 9.3% stake in Coca-Cola (KO) and a 6.5% stake in Chevron (CVX) as of June 30. The company also owns Geico, BNSF Railway and Dairy Queen, among several other companies.
This story has been updated with additional context.
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