✦ The $365 Billion QuestionNarrow moat

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) — the future bets

The pile finally fell — $397 billion to $365 billion in a quarter — and the elephant gun is still loaded.

For years the cash pile was Berkshire's most argued number: a record $397.4 billion at the end of March 202612, earning Treasury yields while critics called it timidity and admirers called it optionality. The Abel era's first innings moved it — to $365.5 billion by the end of June as OxyChem, $11.6 billion of net stock buying and $4.8 billion of buybacks absorbed capital — the first quarterly fall under Abel.34

Consolidated cash and Treasury bills ($B)$373.3BDec 25$397.4BMar 26$365.5BJun 26Cash + short-term T-bills, incl. railroad and utilities, gross; Forms 10-K and 10-Q
The first quarterly fall under Abel: $31.9 billion in three months.

The question the pile poses is structural, not tactical: at Berkshire's size, only enormous deployments move the needle, and the supply of elephant-sized, sensibly priced targets is the binding constraint — which is why the cash accumulated in the first place. The pile remains the crisis war chest that lets Berkshire write billion-dollar checks in days when markets seize, and the measure of Abel's stewardship will be whether it shrinks into productive assets at sensible prices or merely oscillates with the buying calendar. Watch the quarterly trajectory, the buyback line, revived in the second quarter, and above all the next panic: the pile exists for the day everyone else must sell, and its first real test under new management will define the era.

Moat trajectory: Holding steady

Stable by nature: the pile shrank with deployment yet remains within sight of its record, still earning Treasury yields, still waiting for the panic it exists to answer. Optionality this large doesn't trend — it waits.

The number that tests this moat
Moat Explorer calc
Fall in the cash pile, second quarter
-$31.9B in Q2 2026 ($397.4B to $365.5B)

The first quarterly fall under Abel, on OxyChem, net stock buying and buybacks. The pile back above $400B within a year would mean deployment stalled.

How it's calculated: Consolidated cash and cash equivalents plus short-term U.S. Treasury Bills, gross of unsettled purchases: June 2026 35,096 + 324,905 + 5,513 (railroad, utilities and energy) = 365,514; March 2026 51,478 + 339,261 + 6,644 = 397,383.
Source: Berkshire Form 10-Q, quarter ended 30 June 2026 ↗
References
  1. ReportedFor years the cash pile was Berkshire's most argued number: a record $397.4 billion at the end of March 2026, earning Treasury yields while critics called it timidity and admirers called it optionality.
    Berkshire Hathaway Form 10-Q, quarter ended 31 March 2026 - insurance and other cash and cash equivalents $51,478M and Treasury Bills $339,261M, railroad, utilities and energy cash $6,644M (consolidated $397.4B); insurance and other cash and Treasury Bills net of payables $373.5B; equity securities $288.0B; OxyChem acquired 2 January 2026 — Q1 2026 · publ. May 2026 · source ↗
  2. Moat Explorer calcFor years the cash pile was Berkshire's most argued number: a record $397.4 billion at the end of March 2026, earning Treasury yields while critics called it timidity and admirers called it optionality.
    Moat Explorer calculation from Berkshire's Forms 10-K FY2016-FY2025 and 10-Qs for Q1 and Q2 2026: operating earnings = net earnings less after-tax investment gains and the 2025 impairments (FY2023 $37,350M, FY2024 $47,437M, FY2025 $44,486M; Q2 2026 $12,983M vs $11,160M; H1 2026 $24,329M vs $20,801M); consolidated cash and Treasury Bills $397.4B (31 March 2026) and $365.5B (30 June 2026); underwriting as a share of float; OxyChem at 2.6% of the cash pile; five-line after-tax earnings sums — 2016 to Q2 2026 · publ. 2026-09-23 · source ↗
  3. ReportedThe Abel era's first innings moved it — to $365.5 billion by the end of June as OxyChem, $11.6 billion of net stock buying and $4.8 billion of buybacks absorbed capital — the first quarterly fall under Abel.
    Berkshire Hathaway Form 10-Q, quarter ended 30 June 2026 - after-tax earnings (underwriting $1,731M vs $1,992M, insurance investment income $3,059M vs $3,367M, BNSF $1,558M vs $1,466M, BHE $891M vs $702M, manufacturing, service and retailing $4,470M vs $3,601M, investment gains $12,684M, net earnings $25,667M); GEICO pre-tax underwriting $994M vs $1,821M, combined ratio 91.2% vs 83.5%; Reinsurance $913M vs $650M; float $177.5B; insurance and other cash and Treasury Bills net $359.2B; consolidated cash $35,096M + $324,905M + $5,513M; equity securities $323.8B; H1 purchases of equities $39.4B and sales $27.8B; acquisitions of businesses net of cash $9.7B; $4.8B of treasury stock acquired in H1, most in Q2; OxyChem about $9.4B on 2 January; Taylor Morrison agreed 31 May at $72.50 a share, about $6.8B, closed 24 July; notes payable of insurance and other $43.3B; shareholders' equity $747.9B; BNSF revenue $6,601M vs $5,769M, fuel $1,173M vs $698M; BHE revenue $6,735M vs $6,418M; investment income down 9.1% on lower interest rates — Q2 2026 · publ. August 2026 · source ↗
  4. Moat Explorer calcThe Abel era's first innings moved it — to $365.5 billion by the end of June as OxyChem, $11.6 billion of net stock buying and $4.8 billion of buybacks absorbed capital — the first quarterly fall under Abel.
    Moat Explorer calculation from Berkshire's Forms 10-K FY2016-FY2025 and 10-Qs for Q1 and Q2 2026: operating earnings = net earnings less after-tax investment gains and the 2025 impairments (FY2023 $37,350M, FY2024 $47,437M, FY2025 $44,486M; Q2 2026 $12,983M vs $11,160M; H1 2026 $24,329M vs $20,801M); consolidated cash and Treasury Bills $397.4B (31 March 2026) and $365.5B (30 June 2026); underwriting as a share of float; OxyChem at 2.6% of the cash pile; five-line after-tax earnings sums — 2016 to Q2 2026 · publ. 2026-09-23 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 23, 2026