Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) (BRK.B) made some news over the weekend when the company dropped its second-quarter earnings report. Since it was a Saturday, Berkshire pretty much had the financial media to itself, and there was plenty of discussion about CEO Greg Abel beginning to spend the conglomerate’s vast cash hoard.
I was focused on another number, however: $4.5 billion. Berkshire greatly accelerated the company's share buyback efforts during the quarter, spending $4.5 billion to repurchase shares after spending only $235 million in Q1.