(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.)
Berkshire Hathaway’s new CEO likes the surprising turnaround that Berkshire Hathaway’s new CEO announced this week Kraft Heinz.
In the food company’s fourth-quarter earnings release, Steve Cahillane said that since joining the company five weeks ago, he has “recognized that the opportunity is greater than expected and that many of our challenges are solvable and within our control.”
For this reason, he has decided to “pause” work on the planned separation of Kraft and Heinz, announced last September. It would have essentially undone the merger that Warren Buffett helped orchestrate in 2015.
Berkshire is KHC’s largest shareholder with a 27.5% stake, currently worth $8.1 billion.
In a statement to CNBC and other news outlets, Berkshire CEO Greg Abel supported the change. “We support CEO Steve Cahillane and the Kraft Heinz board’s decision to pause work on the company’s previously planned separation under Steve’s new leadership. This allows management to commit to strengthening Kraft Heinz’s ability to compete and serve customers.”
Characters at the booth of Berkshire Hathaway’s Kraft Heinz pose with a reporter at the shareholder shopping day as part of Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting weekend in Omaha, Nebraska, May 5, 2017.
Rick Wilking | Reuters
Buffett, who typically doesn’t criticize the management of a Berkshire holding, was unusually vocal in his disapproval when plans for the split were made public more than five months ago.
In an off-camera phone call with CNBC’s Becky Quick, he said he was “disappointed” and wouldn’t rule out selling some or all of Berkshire’s stake.
“It certainly wasn’t a brilliant idea to put them together, but I don’t think taking them apart will solve the problem.”
Just three weeks ago, Abel appeared to announce a drastic reduction in Berkshire’s KHC position with an SEC registration for the “potential resale” of “up to” 99.9% of the 325.6 million shares the company owned as of Sept. 30.
Kraft Heinz’s decision to stay intact could help prevent those potential sales from becoming a reality.
Did Berkshire’s preparation for KHC share sales play a role in Cahillane’s turnaround?
I certainly don’t know, but if it were, and if it were a conscious attempt to pressure KHC, it would be a significant departure from Buffett’s long-standing “hands-off” policy when it comes to the companies in Berkshire’s stock portfolio.
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Kraft Heinz shares fell when the split reversal was announced Wednesday morning, but quickly recovered to end the week up a small 0.7%.
Upcoming attractions
Berkshire Hathaway is expected to file its latest portfolio review with the SEC after the closing bell on Tuesday.
It discloses what shares the company owned as of December 31, the end of the fourth quarter.
Key questions include:
Greg Abel speaks during Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting on May 4, 2024 in Omaha, Nebraska.
CNBC
Looking further ahead, Greg Abel’s first annual letter to shareholders will be released on Saturday morning, February 28, at approximately 8 a.m. ET (7 a.m. CT), according to a press release from Berkshire.
The company’s annual report and a fourth-quarter earnings release will be released simultaneously, along with information about Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting on May 2.
BUFFETT & BERKSHIRE ON THE INTERNET
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM CNBC’S BUFFETT ARCHIVE
Book recommendations from Buffett and Munger (1994)
AUDIENCE QUESTION: What were the three best books you read last year outside of investing? Why not – even one is enough.
WARREN BUFFETT: I’ll give you – I’m going to first pitch a book that I’ve read but isn’t available yet. But it will be in September.
I think the woman who wrote it is in the audience and it’s Ben Graham’s biography, which will be available in September, by Janet Lowe. And I read it and I think those of you who are interested in investing will definitely enjoy it. She did a good job of catching Ben.
One of the books that I really liked was also written by a shareholder who is not here because he is being sworn in as head of the Voice of America, I think today or tomorrow, maybe tomorrow.
And this is Geoff Cowan’s book, which is about “The People vs. Clarence Darrow.” It is the story of Clarence Darrow’s jury bribery trial in Los Angeles in 1912, when the McNamara brothers bombed the LA Times.
It’s a fascinating book. Geoff uncovered a lot of information not included in Darrow’s previous biographies. I think you would like this…
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, I really enjoyed Connie Bruck’s biography Master of the Game, a biography of Steve Ross, who ran Warner and later co-chaired Time Warner.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yes, he is a little more than just co-chair. (Laughs)
CHARLIE MUNGER: Yes, and – she’s a very insightful author and it’s a very interesting story.
I’m re-reading a book that I really like, Van Doren’s biography of Benjamin Franklin, published in 1952 [1938]and I had almost forgotten how good the book was. And it’s available in paperback everywhere. We’ve never had anyone like Franklin in this country. Never again.
BERKSHIRE STOCK CLOCK
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BRK.A share price: $751,425.00
BRK.B share price: $497.55
BRK.BP/E (TTM): 15.91
Berkshire market cap: $1,076,049,449,409
Berkshire Cash as of September 30: $381.7 billion (up 10.9% from June 30)
Excluding Rail Cash and deducting T-Bills payable: $354.3 billion (up 4.3% from June 30)
No Berkshire share buybacks since May 2024.
(All figures are as of the date of publication unless otherwise stated)
BERKSHIRE’S TOP STOCK HOLDINGS – February 13, 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