The Berkshire Beat: January 16, 2026
The latest Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway news!
CNBC aired its two-hour special, Warren Buffett: A Life and Legacy, on Tuesday evening and, as expected, it delivered lengthy, never-before-seen interviews with the man himself from the days and weeks following his retirement announcement.
Buffett had so much to say, in fact, that trying to include it all here would stretch this week’s issue to the breaking point. So I will be splitting up the various facets of these interviews over the next few weeks to make it all more manageable and digestible.
To start, there are two stories in particular from the CNBC special that struck me as especially wise and valuable.
✨ As a young boy, Warren Buffett did not just dabble in stocks — but also nursed a passion for horse racing. He laughed about how he begged his father, shortly after winning election to the U.S. House of Representatives, to borrow every last book on horse racing and handicapping from the Library of Congress.
So, as the young Buffett stood at the crossroads between investing and gambling, what finally tipped the scales in the money game’s direction?
There was one time when I went to Charleston, West Virginia, and I had a couple of horses in mind — but I lost some money on the first race and then I did the dumbest thing you can imagine, which is I just kept betting every race.
When I went home, I was $50 poorer, which is all I had taken with me. That was equivalent to delivering 5,000 papers, so I had to deliver 5,000 papers for doing something very stupid. I went to the Howard Johnson’s [restaurant] and I had a couple of dollars left and bought myself a fancy meal and just sat there and thought about it — and thought about it on the train [ride home, too].
That was the end of horse racing.
A striking reminder that even someone as intelligent and rational as Buffett was not immune to the emotional pull of gambling, the sunk-cost fallacy, and chasing losses.
✨ Some might call it shameless self-promotion — considering the subject of last month’s transcript for paid supporters — but I loved hearing Buffett’s glowing praise for Tom Murphy. He honored the late CEO of Capital Cities/ABC as a teacher, a business partner, and a friend. “If you had done nothing but study him,” said Buffett, “you wouldn’t have had to study anybody else.”
“[Murph] told me, ‘You can always tell somebody to go to hell tomorrow.’ Just think of how much trouble that keeps you out of.”
“Did you used to tell people to go to hell a lot?” laughed host Becky Quick.
“I certainly did it more before I heard that advice than afterwards,” said Buffett. “When have you ever gained [by telling someone to go to hell]? The only thing is you may have felt a little bit better. It is satisfying, but do it with a mirror or something.”
Other news and notes from the Berkshire Hathaway orbit…
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon doesn’t think his hiring of Todd Combs away from Berkshire Hathaway ruffled any feathers. “It’s a free country,” Dimon said at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, “and people make their own decisions. I did call Warren. He probably wouldn’t have preferred [Combs to leave], but he said, ‘If he’s going anywhere, at least he’s going to you.’”
According to Counterpoint Research, Apple captured a leading 20% share of the global smartphone market in 2025. In the fourth quarter alone, the iPhone maker commanded ~25% of global shipments — its highest quarterly share on record.
“Apple’s growth in 2025 was driven by its expanding presence and rising demand across emerging and mid-size markets,” said senior analyst Varun Mishra, “supported by a stronger product mix.”
“The iPhone 17 series gained significant traction in Q4 following its successful launch,” continued Mishra, “while the iPhone 16 continued to perform exceptionally well in Japan, India, and Southeast Asia.”
Apple also announced this week that Google’s Gemini AI will power the next-gen Siri voice assistant and other Apple Intelligence features. The multi-year agreement leverages Google’s AI technology and infrastructure, while still allowing Apple to maintain its stringent safeguards on user privacy with on-device processing and its own Private Cloud Compute system.
Over on X, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo sees this collaboration as a strategic bridge to relieve short-term pressures on Apple for its long-delayed Siri overhaul, while also buying the company more time to refine and advance its own in-house AI models.
BNSF Railway CEO Katie Farmer told Trains that her railroad has not changed its mind about further M&A activity. Though she does seem to lay that decision at the feet of parent company Berkshire Hathaway, rather than the railroad itself. “I can only tell you from BNSF’s perspective that our owner has been very clear that we have no interest in acquiring another railroad,” she said.
“What’s really important is why customers are asking that question. They’re asking that question because they see the market imbalance that would happen if this were allowed to go through. BNSF shouldn’t be viewed as having an obligation to correct an anti-competitive transaction.”
Farmer also cast doubt on whether the claimed efficiency gains from the proposed Union Pacific x Norfolk Southern merger would really win back volume from trucks. “Do I agree that driving efficiency is a good thing?” she said. “Of course I do. But our intermodal trains spend less than an hour in interchange. That’s not why freight is not converting from over the road.”
For more on BNSF’s continuing salvo against the UP-NS merger, chief marketing officer Tom Williams posted a warning to customers on the railroad’s website.
In other BNSF news, Farmer talked capital spending at this week’s meeting of the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers. And, while BNSF has not yet announced a specific number, she said it will “look a lot like last year” when cap-ex clocked in at $3.8 billion. “It takes several billion dollars to maintain a railroad our size. You’re going to see us continue to invest in making it easier to do business with us. We’re going to continue to invest in safety. We’re going to continue to invest in transparency for the customer [in] … figuring out how to give a better, more reliable product.”
And, finally, a few odds and ends to finish off the week…
Reuters claims that the U.S. government will soon grant Chevron an expanded license to increase oil production and exports in Venezuela.
Yesterday, Berkshire received over $230 million in quarterly dividends from Occidental Petroleum. That includes $63.6 million via its common stock position and $169.8 million via the preferred shares from the Anadarko deal.
Coca-Cola has reportedly thrown in the towel on its attempts to sell Costa Coffee. According to the Financial Times, all of the bids came in too low for Coke’s liking.