Not Even Warren Buffett Wins 'Em All—Recent Losses on Two Big Investments Prove It

Warren Buffett, known for his investing prowess, has had a few clunkers lately.

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), the conglomerate that Buffett has run for six decades, announced over the weekend that it took a huge hit on its investment in Kraft Heinz (KHC), one of the company’s biggest bets of the last decade to go awry. Last year, Berkshire sold out of its position in media and entertainment giant Paramount Global (PARA), reportedly at a huge loss.

These were unusual missteps for the 94-year-old Buffett, who is preparing to leave the CEO role at Berkshire Hathaway at the end of the this year. Some of Buffett’s biggest investments, such as those in Apple (AAPL), American Express (AXP) and Coca-Cola (KO), have paid off handsomely for the company, as have stakes in smaller companies and businesses that Berkshire owns outright.

Berkshire’s class B shares fell nearly 3% on Monday, bucking a broader rally for U.S. stocks, as investors digested the news of the Kraft Heinz write-down and a decline in operating earnings in the second quarter. Through Monday’s close, the stock had gained just 1.3% since the start of 2025 and was 15% below its record high set in early May just before Buffett announced he would step down, while the benchmark S&P 500 index had risen 7.6% so far this year and was near an all-time high.

A Massive Kraft Heinz Write-Down

Berkshire said Saturday in its quarterly filing with the SEC that it lowered the book value of its Kraft Heinz (KHC) stake by about $3.8 billion after taxes in the second quarter. A slew of “other-than-temporary” factors drove the firm to write down its unrealized losses in Kraft Heinz, Berkshire said.

The snack food and beverage maker announced in May it was exploring “strategic transactions,” including a potential split of its businesses, The Wall Street Journal reported.

That same month, two Berkshire representatives, Timothy Kenesey and Alicia Knapp, stepped down from Kraft Heinz’s board, after which Berkshire said it would be no more privy to the company’s activities than the general public.

The departures from the board led to speculation that Berkshire was about to abandon its 27.4% stake in Kraft Heinz. Berkshire has owned a substantial stake in the company since Kraft and Heinz merged in 2015. Kraft Heinz shares have lost more than two-thirds of their value since hitting their all-time high in 2017.

Buffett Took Sole Credit for Paramount Loss

Last year, Berkshire abandoned its stake in Paramount Global, which is set to close a massive deal to merge with Skydance Media by Thursday.

Berkshire sold out of its Paramount position just a couple years after acquiring a nonvoting stake in the media company. Berkshire had become one of the largest shareholders, with roughly a 10% stake in the company by the end of 2023. While Berkshire has not quantified its loss on Paramount, a Business Insider back-of-the-envelope calculations estimated the company’s hit could be more than $1 billion.

Buffett said at Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting in 2024 that he was solely responsible for the Paramount loss, after speculation that another Berkshire investment manager was to blame: “I just want to be very clear that a) we lost money on Paramount, and b) I did it all by myself, folks.”

With the “Oracle of Omaha” set to leave the top spot at Berkshire, there’s a huge spotlight on the company’s cash-and-equivalents pile of $344 billion.

Lofty valuations have made it difficult for the firm to deploy that cash, including buying back its own stock. Berkshire wouldn’t do repurchases unless shares were “almost certainly” underpriced, Buffett said at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in May, when he announced that he would pass the CEO baton to Greg Abel at the end of the year.