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Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B) released its third quarter earnings on Saturday, November 1, and one of the numbers that jumps out is the massive and growing pile of cash that the company has on the sidelines.

As of September 30, Berkshire Hathaway had a record $382 billion in cash that wasn’t invested, up from $344 billion in Q2. That’s about $100 billion more than the total assets in its $283 billion portfolio.

Berkshire and its CEO Warren Buffett have been net sellers of stocks for 12 straight quarters now, dating back to Q3 of 2022. That means that they have sold and cash in more shares than they have bought. This has contributed to the record cash pile.

In Q3, the “cash” or dry powder, as its often called, consisted of about $72 billion in cash and cash equivalents, up from $44 billion at the end of 2024; $305 billion in short-term investment in US Treasury bills, up from $286 billion; and $5 billion in U.S. Treasury, U.S. government corporations and agencies. Some media outlets count the latter as cash, others don’t, in which case it would be about $377 billion in cash.

To put that perspective, here’s a look at how much that cash pile has grown in relation to its portfolio over the past five years:

Why is Buffett keeping assets in cash?

The above chart shows how the cash portfolio has spiked over the past two years in particular. More broadly, it reveals how Buffett and Co., famed value investors, viewed the markets over the past five years.

In 2020, Berkshire had just $142 billion in cash, as the Buffett was likely taking advantage of the COVID crash to buy low. In 2022, when the markets crashed again, Buffett was a major buy, as the cash stores dropped to somewhere in the $105 billion to $109 billion range.  

But as the markets stormed back in 2023 and 2024, with the S&P 500 surging around 25% in each of those years, Buffett grew wary of rising stock valuations. The amount of cash reflected that, almost doubling to $330 billion in 2024.

That restraint has continued in a very volatile 2025, as market valuations continue to rise, with the both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 hovering around 25 -year highs in terms of P/E ratios – at or near levels reached in both 2000 and 2021, when crashes followed in both cases.

While Apple remains Berkshire’s largest holding, Buffett has cut back dramatically on it. In 2023, Berkshire invested nearly $175 billion in Apple, with the stock making up almost half its portfolio.

As of Q2 2025, Berkshire’s stake in Apple was about $57 billion, or roughly 22% of the overall portfolio. Whether or not that changes in Q3, we’ll find out when Berkshire releases its 13F detailing Q3 portfolio moves in a couple of weeks.

So, simply put, the hoarding of cash tells us is the famed value investor is not seeing many good values right now in this overvalued market. It could also suggest that Buffett and his team are worried about a correction, so are parking money in the safe harbor of cash.

It could also mean that, with Greg Abel about to take over as CEO in 2026, Buffett may be stockpiling cash to let Abel and Co. make their own moves.

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