(This is the Warren Buffett Watch newsletter with news and analysis about Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. You can sign up here to receive it in your inbox every Friday evening.)
PacifiCorp’s court victory could reduce wildfire damage by $1 billion or more
An Oregon Court of Appeals ruling this week accepted PacifiCorp’s argument that the judge in a 2023 trial incorrectly told jurors that he could assume that evidence he heard about wildfire damage from 17 homeowners also applied to a class of thousands of other plaintiffs.
The appeal judges sent the so-called James class action lawsuit back to the court for reconsideration.
The jury found utility Berkshire negligent in failing to shut down power lines during a severe storm in 2023, which contributed to four separate wildfires that caused significant property damage.
It said the liability finding applies not only to the 17 plaintiffs in this case, but also to the entire class of other plaintiffs.
A MODIS satellite image from NASA shows wildfires in Oregon, U.S., September 8, 2020. Image taken September 8, 2020.
Maxar Technologies | via Reuters
In subsequent “mini-trials” to determine how much PacifiCorp would have to pay groups of plaintiffs, other jurors awarded them more than $1 billion in damages.
It was expected that these processes would continue for several years.
Plaintiffs in this class may have to start over and prove that the company is liable for their specific damages, although this week’s ruling could be appealed to the state’s highest court.
The appellate judges noted that the class includes owners of more than 2,000 properties damaged by separate fires located more than a hundred miles apart.
The AP reports that the plaintiffs’ lead attorney in a statement called the verdict a “procedural setback,” which does not suggest that “the jury did anything wrong” in finding PacifiCorp liable.
“In fact, the Court rejected PacifiCorp’s efforts to win this appeal on the merits. Instead, the Court addressed a single jury instruction that outlined multiple paths forward – including correcting that instruction and rehearing the case.”
In a press release, PacifiCorp said it “recognizes the severe losses suffered by members of our communities. There are no winners in wildfires; however, the court’s decision reinforces PacifiCorp’s long-held belief that this process was prejudicial and inadequate for managing wildfire litigation.”
The utility says it “remains open to resolving substantiated claims and will continue to defend against meritless claims.”
Berkshire subsidiary faces real estate commission class action lawsuit
According to Reuters, Berkshire Hathaway Energy is facing a proposed class action lawsuit accusing the company of conspiring to increase real estate commissions even though its brokerage firm HomeServices of America paid $250 million to settle the same claims two years ago.
A federal judge in Missouri ruled against BHE’s argument that it was covered by the HomeServices agreement because the two were a “single company” when it came to antitrust disputes.
Buffett won’t be on stage, but he’s still on the cover
The cover of Berkshire Hathaway’s Shareholders Guide for its 2026 annual meeting on May 2 features drawings of Chairman Warren Buffett and CEO Greg Abel.
While Buffett features prominently in the guide and on the badges shareholders will wear (as noted in a brief news report from Omaha’s WOWT-TV), he will cede the spotlight to Abel during the meeting’s question-and-answer session.
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Buffett has said he will be on the arena floor of the CHI Health Center in Omaha with his fellow executives while Abel answers questions from shareholders, CNBC’s Becky Quick reports.
In the first question and answer round, Abel will be accompanied by insurance boss Ajit Jain.
BNSF CEO Katie Farmer and Adam Johnson, CEO of NetJets and Berkshire’s president of consumer products, service and retail, a new position, will join Abel on stage for the second question-and-answer session.
It will be the first time that subsidiary-level executives will be included in a question-and-answer session at an annual meeting.
The crowd reacts during Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting on May 3, 2025 in Omaha, Nebraska.
CNBC
Buffett book adds Berkshire’s next chapter
A book that examines Berkshire Hathway through the eyes of the people who run its subsidiaries is getting an update that includes the company’s transition from Warren Buffett to new CEO Greg Abel.
“The Warren Buffett CEO: Secrets from the Berkshire Hathaway Managers, 25th Anniversary Edition” will be published by Wiley on April 28.
Author Robert P. Miles has also added four new chapters that focus on Berkshire’s “insurance engine” and include profiles of three key executives, including a potential successor to Ajit Jain.
Miles posted a video of himself discussing the book to an audience of investment managers gathered in Switzerland in January, including a look at portfolio manager Ted Weschler.
BUFFETT & BERKSHIRE ON THE INTERNET
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM CNBC’S BUFFETT ARCHIVE
“It’s not a very complicated economic equation at Berkshire” (2016)
WARREN BUFFETT: It’s not a very complicated economic equation at Berkshire.
People didn’t know this – for a long time they didn’t appreciate the value of float. We’ve explained it to them over and over again, and I think they probably do it now too.
The big thing, the goal that Charlie and I are thinking about, we want to add something every year to the company’s normalized – you know, normalized earnings per share.
And we believe we can do it because we should be able to. We have retained earnings that we can work with each year to accomplish this task.
Sometimes it seems like we haven’t achieved much, and we haven’t achieved much.
And other years something big happens, and we don’t know in advance which year will be which…
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, there are very few companies that have ever had a similar advantage.
Throughout Berkshire Hathaway’s history, we’ve lived in a flood of money, constantly deploying it and cashing out assets, and we’ve gotten smarter over time. That’s a pretty good system.
WARREN BUFFETT: It is a –
CHARLIE MUNGER: We won’t change it.
WARREN BUFFETT: No. And many mistakes are allowed. I mean, that’s the interesting thing.
American business was so good that you don’t have to be – you don’t have to be really smart to get a decent result. And if you can bring a little intellect to it, you should do pretty well.
CHARLIE MUNGER: What you have to do is be averse to common stupidities. Just keep them out. You don’t have to be smart.
WARREN BUFFETT: Thank God.
CHARLIE MUNGER: Thank God, right.
BERKSHIRE STOCK CLOCK
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BRK.A share price: $720,002.88
BRK.B share price: $479.90
BRK.BP/E (TTM): 15.47
Berkshire market cap: $1,035,160,682,901
Berkshire Cash as of December 31: $373.3 billion (down 2.2% from September 30)
Excluding rail cash and deducting T-bills payable: $369.0 billion (up 4.1% from September 30)
Berkshire resumed share repurchases on March 4, 2026, but has not said whether it made additional purchases after that date.
(All figures are as of the date of publication unless otherwise stated)
BERKSHIRE’S TOP STOCK HOLDINGS – April 10, 2026
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Berkshire’s largest holdings of disclosed publicly traded stocks in the US and Japan, by market value based on recent closing prices.
Holdings are as of September 30, 2025, as reflected in Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F filing dated November 14, 2025, except for:
For the full list of holdings and current market values, visit CNBC.com’s Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS
Please send me questions or comments about the newsletter to alex.crippen@nbcuni.com. (We’re sorry, but we don’t forward questions or comments to Buffett himself.)
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Buffett’s annual letters to shareholders are also highly recommended reading. They are collected here on Berkshire’s website.
– Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch
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