Billionaire Warren Buffett has invested $23.9 billion in the third quarter through Berkshire Hathaway, the largest amount in 15 years, accelerating the stock buying and expanding his portfolio across companies producing consumer goods and financial services. Berkshire bought shares worth nearly $7 billion in the period compared to 3.62 billion dollars in the second quarter and only 834 million dollars in the first three months of the year, the company announced. Thus, holdings of shares in the fields of “commercial, industrial and other” of Berkshire have risen by 62% in the third quarter, to 17.4 billion dollars, exceeding the investment in financial services companies and consumer products.
Buffett began buying massively during the state debt crisis and the downgrade of U.S. rating by Standard & Poor’s, which caused the strongest drop on the stock market since 2008. The billionaire’s investments in the third quarter include shares and certificates with preferential rights to Bank of America worth $5 billion and taking over Lubrizol Corp. for $9 billion. Some of the most important assets of Buffett’s portfolio include major holdings in Coca-Cola Co., the largest soft drinks manufacturer in the world, and Wells Fargo, which recently became the largest creditor on the U.S. residential market.
From 2000 until now, the billionaire has bought, among other things, an energy distributor and one of the largest railway operators in the U.S., Burlington Northern Santa Fe, last year, for over 27 billion dollars. Berkshire’s net profit fell 24% in the third quarter to 2.28 billion dollars, due to stock market decline. The value of holdings in bank shares, insurance companies and financial services of Berkshire Hathaway increased in the third quarter by 2.7% to $16 billion, while investments in consumer goods companies fell by 5% to 12.6 billion dollars. The group’s portfolio includes American Express and Procter & Gamble. Berkshire announced this year that it has shares in MasterCard.
The last time Buffett has invested more than 20 billion dollars in a single quarter was in the second and fourth quarter of 2008. In that year, the billionaire has invested over 70 billion dollars, while the S & P 500 had the worst year since 1937.