Berkshire's expected Buybacks in 2026

[valueinvesting101]

Berkshire Hathaway Share Repurchases (2020–2026)

Year	Approximate Amount	Context
2020	$24.7 billion	Heavy buybacks initiated as the stock traded at a lower multiple to book value.
2021	$27.1 billion	The peak record year for repurchases.
2022	~$8 billion	Buybacks slowed significantly as the stock price rebounded.
2023	~$9 billion	Maintained modest buyback activity, but far below the 2020/2021 peak levels.
2024	~$3 billion	Repurchases slowed to a trickle and completely paused by May 2024.
2025	$0	No share repurchases were made during the entire year.
2026	~$234 million	(Year-to-Date) Buybacks finally resumed in March 2026 after a 21-month pause.

 

 

Berkshire market cap averaged $494 billion in 2020 and $623 billion in 2021. 

 

Quarter	Amount Repurchased	Est. Average BRK.B Price Paid
Q1 2020	~$1.7 billion	~$210
Q2 2020	~$5.1 billion	~$176
Q3 2020	~$9.0 billion	~$206
Q4 2020	~$9.0 billion	~$225
Total	~$24.7 billion	(Weighted Avg: ~$205)

 

 

Quarter	Amount Repurchased	Est. Average BRK.B Price Paid
Q1 2021	~$6.6 billion	~$245
Q2 2021	~$6.0 billion	~$275
Q3 2021	~$7.6 billion	~$280
Q4 2021	~$6.9 billion	~$290
Total	~$27.1 billion	(Weighted Avg: ~$273)

Edited May 11 by valueinvesting101

[73 Reds]

14 minutes ago, valueinvesting101 said:

Berkshire Hathaway Share Repurchases (2020–2026)

Year	Approximate Amount	Context
2020	$24.7 billion	Heavy buybacks initiated as the stock traded at a lower multiple to book value.
2021	$27.1 billion	The peak record year for repurchases.
2022	~$8 billion	Buybacks slowed significantly as the stock price rebounded.
2023	~$9 billion	Maintained modest buyback activity, but far below the 2020/2021 peak levels.
2024	~$3 billion	Repurchases slowed to a trickle and completely paused by May 2024.
2025	$0	No share repurchases were made during the entire year.
2026	~$234 million	(Year-to-Date) Buybacks finally resumed in March 2026 after a 21-month pause.

In 2025 Buffett soured on a lot of things, i.e. rails, utilities, high valuations in general just to name a few.  So lack of buybacks was understandable, if not expected.  The question is, has Buffett (and now Greg) altered their views, and if so, why?   The share price is not materially different from 2025 but the company has increased retained earnings and is therefore more valuable unless they believe some of their businesses are impaired, which I didn't gather from the AGM (that is what I was looking for most, this year).  When holding as much cash as Berkshire does, the lack of any real desire by management for share buybacks is clearly evident, at least for now.  

Edited May 11 by 73 Reds
missed line

[Eldad]

In the two most recent interviews it sounded like he believes almost everybody is over in the casino rather than the cathedral presently. 
 

Also, global war and chaos presents an opportunity to deploy lots of insurance capital does it not? It seems pretty much every interview he does lately he talks about a massive event (nuclear, cyber, etc.)

 

For these reasons I could see them doing almost no buybacks even if discount to IV is as great as in previous times that they bought aggressively.

 

This will inevitably lead to extreme hate from the market which will probably reach a fever pitch right before he is proven right. 

[Pellom]

I'll go $10-20B. Wouldn't totally surprise me if Berkshire (B) stock hits $450 at some point this year. 

Edited May 12 by Pellom

[mengan]

$0 – $2B (essentially no buybacks)
 

Still rich valuation.

[Mephistopheles]

I just don’t see Berkshire doing marginal amounts of buybacks assuming price remains the same. If Abel/Buffett are buying back at these levels, it means they think stock is cheap and they’re not going to sit around thumb sucking. Unclear why it was just a couple hundred million in q1. Unless the facts change, or they make a $100bn acquisition, or if the price shoots up, it would be uncharacteristic imo to do marginal buybacks. 

[Eldad]

16 minutes ago, Mephistopheles said:

I just don’t see Berkshire doing marginal amounts of buybacks assuming price remains the same. If Abel/Buffett are buying back at these levels, it means they think stock is cheap and they’re not going to sit around thumb sucking. Unclear why it was just a couple hundred million in q1. Unless the facts change, or they make a $100bn acquisition, or if the price shoots up, it would be uncharacteristic imo to do marginal buybacks. 

I thought it was small because it was mostly theater. He went on CNBC and announced it and did the whole salary  in stock deal. I appreciated it but I think it was kind of PR. 

[Mephistopheles]

1 hour ago, Eldad said:

I thought it was small because it was mostly theater. He went on CNBC and announced it and did the whole salary  in stock deal. I appreciated it but I think it was kind of PR. 

But he also said he discussed restarting buybacks with Buffett. I don’t believe at all that Buffett would do it as a PR stunt.

 

Not to mention that the valuation makes complete sense. 1.4x book value assuming BNSF is valued at 1/3 of UNP. Utility tailwind with data centers. And the cash balance serving as a market hedge…

they can direct their entire $50bn or so cash flow towards repurchase and still have the $380bn cash hoard  

[Eldad]

4 hours ago, Mephistopheles said:

But he also said he discussed restarting buybacks with Buffett. I don’t believe at all that Buffett would do it as a PR stunt.

 

Not to mention that the valuation makes complete sense. 1.4x book value assuming BNSF is valued at 1/3 of UNP. Utility tailwind with data centers. And the cash balance serving as a market hedge…

they can direct their entire $50bn or so cash flow towards repurchase and still have the $380bn cash hoard  

Maybe more of a throw him a bone because he asked. I’m getting a lot of vibes of “hey it’s Greg’s show now”, but really it’s still WB majorly in charge of capital deployment. Becky was even like but you check with Greg first right. WB said well Greg might look at the buy sheet at the end of the day.