Abel puts a big chunk of Berkshire's cash to work

(This is the Warren Buffett Watch newsletter, news and analysis on all things Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. You can sign up here to receive it every Friday evening in your inbox.)Abel puts a big chunk of Berkshire's cash to workIn his second quarter as the new CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Greg Abel did some serious spending.As a result, the company's still huge cash reserves declined significantly for the first time since early 2022.Saturday morning's financial report for the three months ending June 30 shows Berkshire had $365.5 billion on hand, a reduction of 8.0% from its record high $397.4 billion as of March 31.Excluding BNSF's cash and adjusting for Treasury bills purchased but not yet paid for, a metric favored by Berkshire, the company's cash declined 3.8% to $359.2 billion. Greg Abel, President and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway arrives at the annual Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho on July 8, 2026.David A. Grogan | CNBCPart of that spending was for $4.5 billion of Berkshire share buybacks.The repurchasing came in below the low end of Barron's rough estimate of $5 billion to $11 billion and is less than UBS analyst Brian Meredith's $8....