Buffett's Stock Losses and Key Takeaways From Berkshire Results
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Judging how Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. ended 2018 very much depended on one’s preferred metric.
The company posted a staggering net loss of $25 billion in the fourth quarter, the biggest loss in its history. That was largely due to a new accounting rule that Buffett disagrees with, which requires companies to report changes in the value of investments as part of earnings. For most corporations, that’s a relatively minor figure, but Berkshire’s $170 billion stock portfolio means big gains and losses each quarter.