Berkshire Hathaway reported that profits more than doubled while its cash hoard climbed to a near-record level approaching $400 billion, a concentration of corporate power that sits at the top of an economy built on extraction, ownership, and control. The company said the gains were driven by its insurance, railroad and energy businesses, and operating earnings jumped year over year as the conglomerate’s latest numbers rolled in under CEO Greg Abel at the 2026 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting.
Who Has the Power
The annual meeting, identified by CNBC as the 2026 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, kicked off with an homage to Warren Buffett, a reminder that even when the face at the top changes, the ritual of corporate hierarchy keeps its own shrine. Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel presided over the meeting and discussed the conglomerate’s latest earnings report while the company’s cash pile approached $400 billion, a figure that says plenty about who gets to sit on mountains of capital while everyone else is told to tighten belts.
Berkshire Hathaway reported that profits more than doubled, and the company said the increase was driven by gains in its insurance, railroad and energy businesses. Operating earnings jumped year over year. Those are the numbers the market celebrates, but they also mark the scale of the apparatus: insurance, railroads and energy, the kinds of sectors that shape everyday life from above while ordinary people absorb the consequences below.
What They Call Leadership
Warren Buffett praised Greg Abel and called the CEO choice “100% successful.” That endorsement came as the company staged its annual meeting around the same corporate mythology that keeps shareholders, executives and media figures circling the same center of power. CNBC also reported that Buffett’s “jersey” was raised to the rafters in Omaha to honor retirement, turning a billionaire’s exit into a ceremonial spectacle.
Ariel Investments’ John Rogers said, “I’d like to find out whether Abel is optimistic about the market,” a question that captures the whole game: whether the man now presiding over the conglomerate’s capital hoard will keep confidence flowing through the same system. Actor Bill Murray said Greg Abel is “very friendly.” The language of friendliness does a lot of work in these rooms, smoothing over the fact that the meeting is still a gathering of capital, not a forum for the people whose lives are shaped by it.
The Money at the Top
The cash hoard approaching $400 billion stands out as the clearest sign of Berkshire Hathaway’s position in the hierarchy. The company’s profits more than doubled, operating earnings rose year over year, and the gains came from insurance, railroad and energy businesses. Those facts sit together: more money concentrated at the top, more control over essential sectors, and more celebration of the executives who manage the pile.
CNBC’s coverage said the annual meeting began with an homage to Buffett, and another video item said Buffett’s “jersey” was raised to the rafters in Omaha to honor retirement. The pageantry is part of the machinery. It turns corporate accumulation into tradition, and tradition into legitimacy.
Greg Abel presided over the 2026 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting while Berkshire Hathaway reported its latest earnings report. Warren Buffett’s praise, John Rogers’ question about whether Abel is optimistic about the market, and Bill Murray’s comment that Abel is “very friendly” all landed inside the same event, where the people at the top speak in the language of confidence while the numbers show just how much wealth remains concentrated in the hands of the conglomerate.