Warren Buffett’s Berkshire is approaching a record $1 billion, he may not be celebrating

It’s a remarkable feat, considering that Berkshire included two textile factories and about 2,300 employees when Buffett first took over in early 1965. The business posted after-tax earnings of less than $5 million in 1968, Buffett’s partnership letters show.

Nearly six decades later, Berkshire owns dozens of businesses, including Geico, BNSF Railway and Squishmallows maker Jazwares, and holds billion-dollar stakes in public companies such as Apple and Coca-Cola. It posted operating earnings of more than $37 billion last year and employed nearly 400,000 people at the end of December.

Berkshire’s sustained growth has made it the seventh most valuable public company in the US. It is worth more than Eli Lilly ($859 billion), Broadcom ($751 billion) and Tesla ($665 billion), but less than Meta Platforms ($1.3 trillion).

Buffett’s net worth has increased by $25 billion this year, placing him eighth on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, worth $145 billion.

Headache

A $1 trillion Berkshire seemed inevitable for a while, given that it had $1.1 trillion in assets at the end of June. This included $277 billion in cash, treasury and other liquid assets and short-term investments.

Buffett, who turns 94 on Friday, may enjoy a $1 trillion market capitalization, but he may also have some concerns. He frequently framed Berkshire’s mushrooming size as a headache as it became harder to find high-quality investments large enough to move the dial.

A shareholder asked Buffett during Berkshire’s 2014 annual meeting what a $1.2 trillion Berkshire would look like. The “Oracle of Omaha” seemed concerned about what compelling acquisitions he could make on that gigantic scale.

“There’s no doubt that at some point we’re going to have more money than we can intelligently distribute,” Buffett said, suggesting that Berkshire’s stock could still be attractive for buybacks. That challenge may be on his mind as his company flirts with another landmark valuation.