Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway on cusp of joining $1 trillion club

By Joseph Adinolfi

The conglomerate's total market capitalization stood at nearly $993 billion as of Tuesday's close

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is on the cusp of becoming just the ninth company in the world to achieve a $1 trillion valuation.

The conglomerate's total market capitalization stood at nearly $993 billion as of Tuesday's close, according to Dow Jones Market Data, leaving it just $7 billion shy of the milestone.

Among the eight other companies that have already achieved the milestone is every member of the Magnificent Seven group of megacap stocks - Nvidia Corp. (NVDA), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Apple Inc. (AAPL), Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), Meta Platforms Inc. (META), Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) and Tesla Inc. (TSLA) - as well as Saudi Aramco, the oil giant controlled by the Saudi state.

Tesla is the only one that is currently trading shy of the $1 trillion mark. The electric-vehicle maker finished Wednesday with a market capitalization of $668.35 billion, roughly half of its peak valuation from late 2021. Apple became the first publicly-traded company to achieve the milestone in the summer of 2018.

Berkshire Hathaway has seen its total market cap increase by about $218 billion since the start of 2024, according to Dow Jones data. That is more than the entire value of iconic American companies like American Express (AXP), McDonald's (MCD), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and Progressive Corp. (PGR).

Berkshire's Class A (BRK.A) shares have gained 27.4% in 2024 to finish at $691,349 a share on Wednesday, according to FactSet data. Meanwhile, the conglomerate's Class B (BRK.B) shares have risen 29.2% to $460.63 a share.

Achieving a 13-figure valuation would mark the latest milestone in a storied history for Berkshire Hathaway. Founded in the 19th century, the company was a prosperous New England-based textile manufacturer for much of its life, before falling on hard times. Buffett took control in the mid-1960s and redirected the company into the insurance business with several strategic acquisitions.

Berkshire recently revealed in securities filings that it had trimmed its stakes in Apple and Bank of America Corp. (BAC) Following the sales, Berkshire's stockpile of short-dated Treasury bills swelled. The company now owns a larger pile than the Federal Reserve.

-Joseph Adinolfi

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08-27-24 1723ET

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