Thanks to Buffett's Foresight? Berkshire Hathaway Stock Price Surpasses $500,000 for the First Time

Warren Buffett, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway
[Photo by AP News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Berkshire Hathaway, led by 'Omaha Oracle' Warren Buffett, saw its stock price surpass $500,000 (approximately 620 million KRW) for the first time ever on the 16th (local time). Amid market turbulence caused by Russia's airstrikes on Ukraine and the Federal Reserve's tightening policies, the stock has been soaring almost alone.

According to CNBC on the 16th (local time), Berkshire Hathaway Class A shares closed at $504,400, up 1.3% that day. The stock price, which was in the $300,000 range just a year ago, has shown a steady upward trend, rising for four consecutive trading days recently and increasing 11% so far this year.

Cash Seifert, an analyst at CFRA Research, told CNBC, "The result is due to Berkshire Hathaway's exposure to energy and utilities (water, electricity, gas), investors' positive response to aggressive share buybacks, combined with the rotation into value stocks." Additionally, last year's solid performance and continued investments in blue-chip stocks such as Apple and Bank of America also contributed to the stock price increase.

As a result, Berkshire Hathaway's market capitalization reached $737 billion, surpassing semiconductor company Nvidia and Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, to rank 6th in market cap. Correspondingly, Chairman Buffett's assets increased by 27% compared to a year ago, reaching $122 billion, and he was the only one among the top 10 billionaires on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index to see an increase in assets since the beginning of the year.

Berkshire Hathaway Class A is considered one of the most expensive stocks in the world. However, Chairman Buffett has stated that he has no plans to split the stock in the future, believing that the high price will attract value investors who take a long-term perspective. However, in 1996, Berkshire Hathaway issued Class B shares for small investors, which closed at $336.11 on this day.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.