The Berkshire Beat: January 30, 2026
The latest Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway news!
Greg Abel’s first month as Berkshire Hathaway CEO is rapidly drawing to a close — and, over the weekend, he received high praise from an old friend.
The Wall Street Journal profiled David Sokol, who mentored Abel at MidAmerican Energy and was once thought to be a leading contender to succeed Warren Buffett before he left the conglomerate under a cloud amid the Lubrizol acquisition.
(Basically, Sokol purchased $10 million of Lubrizol stock shortly before convincing Buffett to acquire the chemical company. That netted him about $3 million in personal gains, leading Berkshire’s audit committee to conclude that Sokol’s trades — and lack of disclosure — violated the company’s code of ethics.)
It’s another great read from Gregory Zuckerman — who also recently wrote about Charlie Munger’s final years — capturing Sokol’s rapid rise and fall in his decade-ish at Berkshire. And, although Sokol did not comment on the Lubrizol controversy, he delivered a glowing endorsement of Berkshire’s new leader.
“Greg Abel is an extraordinary executive who in my opinion is far more talented than I am and is at the correct age for such a challenge,” he said in an email. “I wish him nothing but great success.”
Other news and notes from the Berkshire Hathaway orbit…
Speaking of Lubrizol, the Berkshire-owned chemical maker plans to expand and modernize its global headquarters near Cleveland. The project will consolidate more than 1,000 employees onto a single, unified campus — which should foster greater collaboration, accelerate decision-making, and support in-person teamwork among engineers, scientists, and other key teams.
Slated for completion in two years, the new HQ will feature expanded laboratory space for surface science and engineered materials, state-of-the-art innovation facilities, interactive workspaces, and a renovated cafeteria for employees.
“Nearly a century and thousands of patents later,” said CEO Rebecca Liebert, “our extraordinary Northeast Ohio talent continues to innovate. By bringing our teams under one roof, we’re creating a more connected and agile organization.”
According to Counterpoint Research, the iPhone 16 finished last year as the world’s best-selling smartphone. In fact, Apple devices held the first four spots in the list — and seven of the top ten. “Apple maintained a strong presence in the top ten rankings with the iPhone 16 leading and further widening the gap with the next positions,” said a Counterpoint analyst. “The iPhone 17 series achieved 16% higher sales than the predecessor series during its first full quarter in the market, driven by strong initial demand in key markets such as the U.S., China, and Western Europe.”
Bloomberg also reports that Apple quietly expanded the responsibilities of hardware engineering chief John Ternus to include the company’s renowned design teams. A move that further cements his status as the frontrunner to eventually succeed Tim Cook as CEO. This move, which took effect at the end of last year, positions Ternus as a key liaison between Apple’s elite design staff and top company executives. He already oversees hardware development for iconic products like iPhone, iPad, and Mac — and now will gain experience with another core facet of the Apple operation.
But, adds Bloomberg, rumors of Cook’s imminent retirement may have been greatly exaggerated: “Even with the change, there are no signs within Apple that Cook is poised to step down soon.”
And, in yet more Apple news, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo does not expect iPhone prices to change amid surging memory prices. “Apple’s playbook is clear,” he wrote on X. “Use the market chaos to their advantage — secure the chips, absorb the costs, and grab more market share. They’ll make it back later on the services side.”
“Apple’s current plan for new iPhone 18 models [coming out later this year] is to avoid raising prices as much as possible,” he continued, “at least keep the starting price flat, which is helpful for marketing.” However, Kuo cautioned that the broader AI server boom is straining the entire supply chain, potentially driving up costs in other areas.
BNSF Railway outlined a $3.6 billion capital expenditure plan for the year ahead — a modest decrease from the $3.8 billion invested in 2025. Of that total, $2.8 billion is earmarked for maintenance, which includes surfacing and/or undercutting 13,000 miles of track; replacing around 2.5 million rail ties; installing more than 400 miles of new rail; and upgrading track infrastructure to ensure long-term reliability and safety.
And $358 million will go towards expansion and efficiency initiatives, with a special focus on projects that boost network capacity and operational performance. Like property acquisition and development for the Barstow International Gateway in California and further progress on a new intermodal facility near Phoenix, Arizona.
“Our 2026 capital plan focuses on strengthening and modernizing our network so we can continue to meet our customers’ evolving needs,” said CEO Katie Farmer. “We prioritize investing with the future in mind, improving efficiency, adding capacity, and ensuring our railroad is always ready to support growth while delivering the dependable, resilient service our customers count on.”
Moving from the rails to the road, Pilot announced a new partnership with Tesla to install dedicated Semi chargers along major trucking corridors. Construction will begin soon, with the first charging sites — in California, Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas — expected to open sometime this summer.
Each one will feature 4-8 charging stalls, powered by Tesla’s advanced V4 cabinet charging technology, and should allow a Tesla Semi to recover the majority of its 500-mile range in a 30-minute charging session. (Which, conveniently, lines up with federally-mandated rest breaks for professional truck drivers.) While the initial rollout will prioritize Tesla Semi fleets, the infrastructure could potentially expand in the future to accommodate other heavy-duty EVs made by others.
And, finally, a few odds and ends to finish off the week…
Berkshire Hathaway owns 22.0% of American Express — and the company’s archivist recently took a look back at the contentious decision to launch a credit card in 1958. Executives were split over whether to pursue a new line of business or to keep the focus on AmEx’s successful travelers cheques operation.
UnitedHealth, meanwhile, is a much smaller part of the Berkshire portfolio. The healthcare giant’s stock price dropped ~20% on Tuesday, rocked by disappointing 2026 revenue guidance and lower-than-expected Medicare reimbursement rates for 2027. This would be UnitedHealth’s first revenue decline in nearly forty years.
I don’t want to overload this issue with Apple stuff any more than I already have, but the iPhone maker purchased artificial intelligence startup Q.ai for ~$2 billion. More on this next week.