Berkshire Cash Hits Record $49.1 Billion as Profit Climbs

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s cash hoard hit a record as first-quarter profit jumped 51 percent on gains from equity-linked derivatives and insurance operations.

Net income climbed to $4.89 billion, or $2,977 a share, from $3.25 billion, or $1,966, a year earlier, the Omaha, Nebraska-based company said yesterday in a statement. The cash pile grew to $49.1 billion from $47 billion three months earlier, eclipsing the previous record of $47.9 billion in the second quarter of 2011.