Investment: Berkshire Hathaway increases profit and reduces cash mountain

Berkshire Hathaway, the investment firm led by Greg Abel, has reported a rise in operating profits for the second quarter, increasing 16% to $12.98 billion, the company announced on Saturday. At the same time, the firm is reducing its substantial cash reserves. In the second quarter, Berkshire Hathaway bought back its own shares worth $4.5 billion, with an additional $3.3 billion in July.

Moreover, the company bought more shares than it sold for the first time in 14 quarters, increasing its stake in Alphabet's parent company Google by $10 billion. The cash balance fell from a record high of $380.2 billion in the previous quarter to $364.7 billion. For Abel, it was his second quarter in charge of the company, succeeding Warren Buffett who remains a member of the board of directors.

Investors were keen to see if Abel would take a different approach to capital management compared to Buffett, who had struggled in recent years to deploy cash profitably as he approached the end of his 60-year tenure. The pace of share repurchases is now comparable to the peak under Buffett at the start of the decade.