(Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said fourth-quarter profit rose 9.6% on gains at insurance units.
Net income climbed to $4.99 billion, or $3,035 a share, from $4.55 billion, or $2,757, a year earlier, Omaha, Nebraska- based Berkshire said today in a statement. Operating earnings were $2,297 per share, beating the $2,204 average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
For decades, Buffett has used premiums from insurance subsidiaries like Geico to fuel Berkshire’s growth. The funds have allowed the billionaire chairman and chief executive officer to amass the largest equity stakes in companies such as Coca-Cola Co., while also taking over whole businesses. Berkshire now has dozens of operating units spanning the energy, transportation, manufacturing and retail industries.
“All the businesses are doing pretty well,” Cliff Gallant, an analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc., said in a phone interview before today’s announcement. “They’re all leveraged to a good U.S. economy.”
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