Berkshire Posts Nearly $50 Bln Loss In Q1

(RTTNews) - Billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, BRK.B) on Saturday reported a loss of nearly $50 bln for the first-quarter, hurt by $55.5 billion in unrealized losses in the massive stock portfolio. But, quarterly operating earnings increased about 5.6 percent.

"As efforts to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated in the second half of March and continued through April, most of our businesses were negatively affected, with the effects to date ranging from relatively minor to severe," the company said in regulatory filing.

Buffett will host Berkshire's annual meeting virtually later today, amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Berkshire's net loss attributable to shareholders for the first-quarter was $49.75 billion or $30,653 per Class A Share, compared to net income of $21.66 billion or $13,209 per Class A Share in the same quarter last year.

Operating earnings for the quarter increased about 5.6 percent to $5.87 billion from $5.56 billion in the previous year. Total revenues for the quarter were $61.27 billion, up from $60.68 billion in the prior year.