• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

The Pentagon said Iran War costs $29 billion, but the real cost is closer to $200 billion—and counting

2

Now worth $200 million, Sarah Jessica Parker credits being ‘one of eight kids that struggled financially’ for her hunger, ambition, and work ethic

3

After forcing workers back to the office, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are now letting their staff work remotely—but only for the World Cup

1

The Pentagon said Iran War costs $29 billion, but the real cost is closer to $200 billion—and counting

2

Now worth $200 million, Sarah Jessica Parker credits being ‘one of eight kids that struggled financially’ for her hunger, ambition, and work ethic

3

After forcing workers back to the office, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are now letting their staff work remotely—but only for the World Cup
FinanceWarren Buffett

Warren Buffett gets early birthday present as Berkshire Hathaway joins $1 trillion club

By
Greg McKenna
Greg McKenna
News Fellow
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Greg McKenna
Greg McKenna
News Fellow
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 28, 2024, 2:30 PM ET
Chart shows companies in the $1 trillion club
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Berkshire Hathaway reached a $1 trillion market capitalization Wednesday morning, becoming the first non-technology company in the U.S. to do so. The milestone amounts to an early birthday present for chairman Warren Buffett, who turns 94 on Friday.

Recommended Video

The conglomerate’s Class A shares initially rose over 1% Wednesday and hit an all-time high above the $699,000 mark, allowing Berkshire to temporarily crack the $1 trillion threshold, before falling slightly as the day continued. Berkshire has famously never split the stock, which sells for almost 70% more than the median price of a home in the U.S., according to data from the St. Louis Fed.

That’s because Buffett wants to attract investors with investment horizons in line with his buy-and-hold philosophy. The shares have gained 29% year to date, compared to just 18% for the S&P 500. Investors can gain cheaper exposure to Buffett’s portfolio, however, with the company’s Class B shares, which also hit an all-time high Wednesday and are trading above the $462 mark.

Before he was known as the Oracle of Omaha, Buffett bought a struggling New England textile manufacturer in 1965, believing it was available for a bargain. It proved to be a bad bet, but Buffett transformed the company into one of the largest conglomerates in history, making Berkshire a vehicle for his investment philosophy that centers on value-oriented stock picking and diverse acquisitions.

Read more: My run-in with Warren Buffett involved a bankrupt textile mill—I outbid him, but he held no grudge: Wilbur Ross

His approach proved successful. From 1965 to the end of 2022, Berkshire’s stock rose 3,787,464%, far outpacing the S&P 500’s 24,708% gain. If you invested $10,000 in Berkshire 59 years ago, Fortune’s Will Daniel noted, you would have made $378 million by the end of that span.

Old-school Berkshire Hathaway stands alone among Big Tech players

As a result, Berkshire is flirting with a club previously only occupied by the U.S. tech giants and Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Group, the kingdom’s state-owned oil company. Buffett’s conglomerate boasts the seventh-biggest market cap in the U.S., exceeding those of Eli Lily, Broadcom, and Tesla.

The tech members of what Fortune’s Shawn Tully dubbed the Trillion-Dollar Club enjoy incredible dominance in their respective markets. Their long-term fates, meanwhile, appear tied to the hundreds of billions of dollars they’re spending to ensure they remain leaders in the age of AI.

Buffett’s company, therefore, is distinct for its old-school holdings. Berkshire’s signature property is Geico Insurance, and it also owns household names like Duracell, Fruit of the Loom, Dairy Queen, and BNSF Railway. Buffett is revered for his value-based approach, which has typically favored the likes of Coca-Cola and American Express rather than Big Tech, and his company owns more short-term treasuries than the Federal Reserve.

Nonetheless, it’s worth noting that Apple makes up roughly 40% of Berkshire’s portfolio, remaining the company’s biggest holding, even after Buffett created headlines by recently offloading almost half of his position in the iPhone maker. The selloff, which generated the bulk of Berkshire’s $90 billion in proceeds from sales in the first half of 2024, Tully wrote, might go down “as of one of the best bets of his career.”

Buffett has previous warned Berkshire’s size could become an obstacle to future returns, saying the conglomerate is generating more cash ($277 billion, including short-term equivalents, as of last quarter) than it can adequately deploy.

Thus far, however, he and his investors have had plenty to celebrate.

About the Author
By Greg McKennaNews Fellow
LinkedIn icon

Greg McKenna is a news fellow at Fortune.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Finance

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Finance

A Viking ship named Havhingsten af Glendalough - the Sea Stallion of Glendalough -, the world's largest replica of a Viking warship, sets out 01 JUly 2007 from the Viking Museum in Roskilde, Denmark, on a voyage to Dublin in Ireland, where it is scheduled to arrive 14 August.
EuropeScience
1,000-year-old massive textile factory unearthed in Denmark—and it belonged to the Vikings
By James Brooks and The Associated PressJune 24, 2026
10 hours ago
Young couple standing in a brightly lit home
Real EstateHousing
A big look at the state of housing in America: Boomers won’t sell, millennials can’t buy, and Gen Z gets to watch the whole thing sort itself out
By Tristan BoveJune 24, 2026
10 hours ago
Wind turbines on yellow grass
Environmentwind power
California threatens to hit Trump with lawsuit if he doesn’t revive massive wind farm project off central coast
By Jennifer McDermott and The Associated PressJune 24, 2026
10 hours ago
Warren leans in to talk to Scott
PoliticsHousing
Congress’s landmark housing bill could backfire on millions of renters
By Jacqueline MunisJune 24, 2026
11 hours ago
Institute's Global Conference at the Beverly Hilton Hotel,on May 6, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California.
RetailSpaceX
Elon Musk was the world’s first trillionaire for 12 days
By Eva RoytburgJune 24, 2026
11 hours ago
President Donald Trump pictured in September 2025 signing an executive order that overhauled the H-1B visa program.
EconomyImmigration
Trump’s international student crackdown kicked off a domino effect that could shave nearly $500 billion off the economy
By Tristan BoveJune 24, 2026
13 hours ago

Most Popular

The Pentagon said Iran War costs $29 billion, but the real cost is closer to $200 billion—and counting
Economy
The Pentagon said Iran War costs $29 billion, but the real cost is closer to $200 billion—and counting
By Jacqueline MunisJune 24, 2026
24 hours ago
Now worth $200 million, Sarah Jessica Parker credits being ‘one of eight kids that struggled financially’ for her hunger, ambition, and work ethic
Success
Now worth $200 million, Sarah Jessica Parker credits being ‘one of eight kids that struggled financially’ for her hunger, ambition, and work ethic
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJune 24, 2026
24 hours ago
After forcing workers back to the office, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are now letting their staff work remotely—but only for the World Cup
Success
After forcing workers back to the office, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are now letting their staff work remotely—but only for the World Cup
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJune 23, 2026
2 days ago
Amazon's record Prime Day masks a darker truth: Americans are spending more and getting less
Retail
Amazon's record Prime Day masks a darker truth: Americans are spending more and getting less
By Nick LichtenbergJune 24, 2026
16 hours ago
Ray Dalio just finished a 10-day trip to China. He says global leaders know America ‘doesn’t have what it takes to fight to maintain its empire’
Asia
Ray Dalio just finished a 10-day trip to China. He says global leaders know America ‘doesn’t have what it takes to fight to maintain its empire’
By Nick LichtenbergJune 24, 2026
18 hours ago
Current price of gold as of June 23, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of gold as of June 23, 2026
By Danny BakstJune 23, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.