Rubbish Check
CNBC Top News · August 8, 2026
source“Berkshire earnings rose last quarter and CEO Greg Abel is starting to deploy Buffett’s massive cash hoard”
R2/ 10
Lightly altered
Rubbish Rating — 1 = base fact, 10 = pure rubbish
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In short
Rubbish Talk rates CNBC's claim that Berkshire's earnings rose and Abel is deploying Buffett's cash hoard a 2/10 because both parts check out against the filing: operating earnings climbed 16% and Berkshire became a net stock buyer for the first time in 14 quarters.
The Verdict
Lightly altered. The headline compresses two real, verifiable facts into one sentence without inverting either of them; the only iteration away from pure base fact is that it doesn't flag how much cash Abel still hasn't touched.
What actually happened
Berkshire Hathaway's operating earnings rose 16% in Q2 2026 as energy, railroad and manufacturing strength offset weaker insurance results. After 14 straight quarters as a net seller of stocks, the company became a net buyer, and Abel sharply accelerated share buybacks from the prior quarter's pace.
Key facts
- Operating earnings: Berkshire's operating earnings rose 16% to $12.98 billion from $11.16 billion a year earlier, corroborated by a separate outlet's identical figures.
- Segment breakdown: manufacturing, service and retailing earnings jumped 24% to $4.47 billion, while Berkshire Hathaway Energy's profit surged 27% to $891 million; BNSF railroad rose 6% to $1.56 billion.
- Insurance weak spot: underwriting earnings fell 13% to $1.73 billion and insurance investment income declined 9% to $3.06 billion.
- Buybacks: repurchases hit approximately $4.5 billion in Q2, up sharply from $235 million in Q1 2026, though below some expectations.
- Cash pile: fell to $365.5 billion at end of June from a record $397.4 billion three months earlier.
- Stock buying reversal: Berkshire reversed a pattern of selling stocks, becoming a net buyer of equities in the second quarter with nearly $20 billion in net purchases, after being a net seller for 14 consecutive quarters.
- Net income (not in the headline, but from the same filing): Berkshire Hathaway posted $25.667 billion in net income for the second quarter of 2026, more than doubling the $10.106 billion it earned in Q1, though that jump was driven largely by mark-to-market investment gains, not operating strength.
What to watch for
The cash pile is down but still enormous at $365.5 billion, so "starting to deploy" is accurate but leaves the bigger question open: whether Abel keeps accelerating buybacks and stock buying into Q3, or this was a one-quarter blip driven by the Alphabet stake and Taylor Morrison deal closing. Watch whether the $20 billion in net equity purchases repeats or reverses next quarter.
About this scoreThe R-Score is Rubbish Talk's editorial opinion on how far a headline's framing sits from what the underlying facts support. It is a judgement about presentation and emphasis, not an allegation that any outlet has acted dishonestly. Every figure we rely on is linked under Receipts so you can check it yourself.
