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(This is the Warren Buffett Watch newsletter, news and analysis on all things Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. You can sign up here to receive it every Friday evening in your inbox.)
Berkshire Hathaway’s new CEO likes the surprise course reversal announced this week by the new CEO of Kraft Heinz.
In the food company’s Q4 earnings release, Steve Cahillane said in the time since he joined the company five weeks ago, he has “seen that the opportunity is larger than expected and that many of our challenges are fixable and within our control.”
As a result, he’s decided to “pause work” on the planned separation of Kraft from Heinz that was announced last September. It would have essentially reversed the merger Warren Buffett helped orchestrate in 2015.
Berkshire is KHC’s biggest shareholder with a 27.5% stake currently worth $8.1 billion.
In a statement given to CNBC and other news outlets, Berkshire CEO Greg Abel endorsed the change. “We support CEO Steve Cahillane and the Kraft Heinz Board of Directors’ decision, under Steve’s new leadership, to pause work on the company’s previously planned separation. As a result, management can commit to strengthening Kraft Heinz’s ability to compete and serve customers.”
Characters at the Berkshire Hathaway company Kraft Heinz booth pose with a reporter at the shareholder shopping day as part of the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting weekend in Omaha, Nebraska, May 5, 2017.
Rick Wilking | Reuters
Buffett, who usually does not criticize the management of a Berkshire holding, was uncharacteristically vocal about his disapproval when plans for the split were made public more than five months ago.
In an off-camera phone call with CNBC’s Becky Quick, he said he was “disappointed” and didn’t rule out selling some or all of Berkshire’s stake.
“It certainly didn’t turn out to be a brilliant idea to put them together, but I don’t think taking it apart will fix it.”
Just three weeks ago, Abel appeared to signal a sharp reduction of Berkshire’s KHC position with an SEC registration for “the potential resale” for “up to” 99.9% of the 325.6 million shares it reported holding as of September 30.
Kraft Heinz’s decision to remain intact may help keep those potential sales from becoming reality.
Did Berkshire’s preparation for KHC share sales play a role in Cahillane’s reversal?
I certainly don’t know, but if it did, and if it was an intentional effort to pressure KHC, it would be a significant departure from Buffett’s long-standing hands-off policy when it comes to the companies in Berkshire’s equity portfolio.
Kraft Heinz shares fell when the split reversal was announced Wednesday morning but quickly rebounded to end the week with a small 0.7% gain.
Coming attractions
Berkshire Hathaway is expected to file its latest portfolio snapshot with the SEC after Tuesday’s closing bell.
It will reveal what stocks it owned as of December 31, the end of its fourth quarter.
Among the key questions:
Greg Abel speaks during the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 4, 2024.
CNBC
Looking further ahead, Greg Abel’s first annual letter to shareholders will be released Saturday morning, February 28 around 8 AM ET (7AM CT), according to a Berkshire news release.
The company’s annual report and a fourth quarter earnings release will be out at the same time, along with information about Berkshire’s May 2 shareholders meeting.
BUFFETT & BERKSHIRE AROUND THE INTERNET
Some links may require a subscription:
HIGHLIGHTS FROM CNBC’S BUFFETT ARCHIVE
Buffett and Munger’s book recommendations (1994)
AUDIENCE QUESTION: What were the three best books you read last year outside of the investment field? Why don’t — even one will do.
WARREN BUFFETT: I’ll give you — I’ll tout a book first that I’ve read but that isn’t available yet. But it will be in September.
The woman who wrote it, I believe, is in the audience and it’s Ben Graham’s biography, which will be available in September, by Janet Lowe. And I’ve read it and I think those of you who are interested in investments, for sure, will enjoy it. She’s done a good job of capturing Ben.
One of the books I enjoyed a lot was written also by a shareholder who is not here because he’s being sworn in, I believe today or tomorrow, maybe tomorrow, as head of the Voice of America.
And that’s Geoff Cowan’s book, which is on “The People v. Clarence Darrow.” It’s the story of the Clarence Darrow trial for, essentially, jury bribery in Los Angeles back around 1912, when the McNamara brothers had bombed the LA Times.
It’s a fascinating book. Geoff uncovered a lot of information that the previous biographies of Darrow didn’t have. I think you’d enjoy that…
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, I very much enjoyed Connie Bruck’s biography Master of the Game, which was a biography of Steve Ross, who headed Warner and later was, what, co-chairman of Time Warner.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, he’s a little more than co-chairman. (Laughs)
CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah, and — she’s a very insightful writer and it’s a very interesting story.
I am rereading a book I really like, which is Van Doren’s biography of Benjamin Franklin, which came out in 1952 [1938], and I’d almost forgotten how good a book it was. And that’s available in paperback everywhere. We’ve never had anybody quite like Franklin in this country. Never again.
BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH
BRK.A stock price: $751,425.00
BRK.B stock price: $497.55
BRK.B P/E (TTM): 15.91
Berkshire market capitalization: $1,076,049,449,409
Berkshire Cash as of September 30: $381.7 billion (Up 10.9% from June 30)
Excluding Rail Cash and Subtracting T-Bills Payable: $354.3 billion (Up 4.3% from June 30)
No Berkshire stock repurchases since May 2024.
(All figures are as of the date of publication, unless otherwise indicated)
BERKSHIRE’S TOP EQUITY HOLDINGS – Feb. 13, 2026
Berkshire’s top holdings of disclosed publicly traded stocks in the U.S. and Japan, by market value, based on the latest closing prices.
Holdings are as of September 30, 2025, as reported in Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F filing on November 14, 2025, except for:
The full list of holdings and current market values is available from CNBC.com’s Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS
Please send any questions or comments about the newsletter to me at alex.crippen@nbcuni.com. (Sorry, but we don’t forward questions or comments to Buffett himself.)
If you aren’t already subscribed to this newsletter, you can sign up here.
Also, Buffett’s annual letters to shareholders are highly recommended reading. There are collected here on Berkshire’s website.
— Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch
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