Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B, BRK.A) announced it made $3.6 billion in the first quarter compared to a loss of $1.5 billion in the year ago period. All of the improvement was in the company’s operating earnings which went from $1.7 billion last year to $2.2 billion in the most recent quarter.
The company also had a profit in its investment portfolio and in the part of the financial statement that reflects derivative losses and gains.
The investment and derivative portion of earning was $1.4 billion compared to $3.3 billion last year, during the credit crisis and March 2009 market sell-off
| Berkshire Hathaway Inc. | ||||||||||||||||
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Preliminary First Quarter After-Tax Earnings
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| (in millions) | ||||||||||||||||
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2010
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2009
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| Insurance – underwriting | $ | 226 | $ | 202 | ||||||||||||
| Insurance – investment income | 938 | 1,004 | ||||||||||||||
| Total insurance | 1,164 | 1,206 | ||||||||||||||
| Regulated businesses | 555 | 268 | ||||||||||||||
| Manufacturing, service & retailing | 477 | 258 | ||||||||||||||
| Finance | 69 | 68 | ||||||||||||||
| Other | (43 | ) | (95 | ) | ||||||||||||
| Operating earnings | 2,222 | 1,705 | ||||||||||||||
| Investment and derivative gains/losses | 1,411 | (3,239 | ) | |||||||||||||
| Net earnings | $ | 3,633 | $ | (1,534 | ) | |||||||||||
Douglas A. McIntyre
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