Shares of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. dropped as much as 3.4% on Monday after the conglomerate revealed a multibillion-dollar writedown in its second-quarter results and opted to forgo buybacks.
Its shares ended the day down about roughly 2.9%.
The Omaha-based company took a $3.8 billion impairment charge related to its investment in Kraft Heinz Co., the firm said in a statement Saturday, a rare disappointment for the 94-year-old billionaire.
The carrying value of Berkshire’s stake in the consumer goods giant was written down to $8.4 billion, from more than $17 billion at the end of 2017.
In New York trading Monday, Berkshire’s Class B shares dropped as much as 3.4% to $457.00, their lowest level since February.
Kraft Heinz is behind household names such as Kraft Mac & Cheese, but inflation and a shift away from packaged foods have taken a toll on the firm — with its stock down more than 10% this year as of market close Friday.
The company is considering a move to break up and spin off a major part of its business into a new entity.
On Saturday, Berkshire also said it was forgoing buybacks for the fourth-straight quarter, even as its stock had slipped more than 12% between Buffett’s retirement announcement in May and Friday’s close.
The conglomerate also posted a 3.8% drop in profit, in part because of softer underwriting profit at its insurance unit.
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