Berkshire Hathaway buys back $9.6 billion of its own stock but its profits declined

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Berkshire Hathaway repurchased $9.6 billion worth of its own shares in the third quarter, but Geico's numbers got worse as it invested more in ads and its overall profit fell more than 28% as the value of its investments changed.But the buybacks likely came to a halt recently as Berkshire's Class A stock price surged past $878,000 and topped where it was before Warren Buffett surprised investors with his plans to retire at the annual meeting in May 2025. He gave up the chairman title in September after relinquishing the CEO job to Greg Abel in January.Berkshire's massive cash pile also returned to growing in the third quarter and reached $377.4 billion, up from $365.5 billion at the end of June.CFRA Research analyst Cathy Seifert said Geico is in a tough spot right now with insurance premiums declining at the same time the average cost of the claims are increasing. Berkshire underwriting profit at all its insurers fell to $1.35 billion from last year's $2.37 billion.