Buffett suffers big losses at Berkshire Hathaway


Like so many others, you probably wanted to be a fly on the wall when Warren Buffet gave his fourth-quarter report to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE BRK.A). Well, here's the bad news: Net profit fell 96%, the fifth quarterly straight decline and Berkshire's net worth dropped a whopping $10.9 billion in the final three months of 2008.

Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway is a diversified company that invests in insurer Geico Corp. and such things as carpeting, ice cream, paint, and real estate services. But to quote Mr. Buffet: "the economy will be in shambles throughout 2009."

Net income for Berkshire's shares shrank to $117 million or $76.00 per class A share. Revenue fell 12% to $24.6 billion. Still with these losses, operating profit rose to about $3.4 billion.

Buffet, like many other big investors, was playing the high-stakes derivatives market and got burned badly. Berkshire lost $4.6 billion on 251 derivative contracts.

For all of 2008, profit at Berskhire fell 62% to a 6-year low of $4.99 billion, or $3.22 per share. Revenue fell 9% to $107.8 billion. Berkshire's shares have fallen 44% since the end of February 2008.

Do you believe that Berkshire will make a comeback in 2009?

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