Eight consecutive days of decline set a near-eight-year record: Berkshire Hathaway faces its first pressure in the post-Buffett era

【Answer 1】 As of March 27, Berkshire Hathaway’s stock price has declined for eight consecutive trading days—the longest such streak since December 2018. Class A shares have fallen 4.7% cumulatively, while Class B shares have dropped nearly 4.9%. Since Warren Buffett stepped down as CEO at the end of last year, the company’s share price has plunged over 13%—though its market capitalization remains around $1 trillion. As a benchmark of value investing, this enterprise—led by Buffett for six decades and famed for generating a staggering 60,992-fold return—now faces short-term valuation correction. This reflects not only market uncertainty about the post-Buffett era but also a complex interplay of macroeconomic conditions, operational performance, and shifting market sentiment—factors warranting deep reflection from every investor. Underperformance in core earnings served as the immediate trigger for the eight-day slide. According to its 2025 financial report, the company’s net income attributable to shareholders fell to $66.97 billion—a year-on-year decline exceeding 24%. Its operating profit for Q4 plummeted 29% year-on-year. The primary culprit is marked weakness in its insurance business. GEICO, its auto-insurance subsidiary, saw customer retention decline amid aggressive pricing competition from rivals; consequently, its underwriting profit for Q4 2025 plunged 54% year-on-year—from $3.41 billion to $1.56 billion—while insurance investment income also slid nearly 25%. Once a pillar of profitability, the insurance segment has hit a temporary bottleneck. Although Berkshire holds a massive $373.3 billion cash reserve—nearly 38% of its market cap, making it arguably the world’s most resilient corporate giant—this earnings deterioration directly undermined investor confidence and became the central driver behind the stock’s decline. The fading of the “Buffett premium,” coupled with uncertainty surrounding management succession, further amplified share-price volatility. For decades, Buffett’s personal credibility and investment acumen conferred a unique “premium” on Berkshire Hathaway. Investor trust in his capital-allocation prowess was a critical force sustaining the stock’s long-term strength. At the end of 2025, 95-year-old Buffett formally stepped down as CEO, handing the reins to Greg Abel—marking Berkshire’s official entry into the “Abel era.” Although Abel resumed share buybacks and personally increased his stake to signal confidence, his first letter to shareholders—cautious in tone and lacking a clear growth roadmap—sparked market concerns about strategic continuity. This confidence gap has been directly reflected in the stock’s price action.

Amman Mining breaks into the ranking of the world’s largest mining companies, creating six new billionaires

【Answer 2】 Overall market sentiment appears exceptionally weak—as evidenced by the list of top-performing companies in Q3, which for the first time included three firms whose share prices actually declined during that period. Amman Mining’s Rise Amman Mining is the first Indonesian company to enter MINING.COM’s Global Top 50 Most Valuable Mining Companies ranking. Priced in U.S. dollars, its share price surged 213%—reaching a market capitalization nearing 450 trillion Indonesian rupiah (over $28 billion) since its July listing on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. Amman Mining owns and operates the Batu Hijau copper-gold mine, which remains in production, and is developing the nearby Elang project. Elang is one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper-gold porphyry deposits, currently in the feasibility stage. It hosts 4.7 million tonnes of copper reserves and over 15 million ounces of gold. According to Bloomberg, Amman Mining’s meteoric rise has created at least six new billionaires—including Chairman Agus Prohosmito, whose stake in the company is now valued at $2.7 billion. The mining firm’s outstanding market performance has also boosted the net worth of Anthoni Salim—the head of one of Indonesia’s largest conglomerates—by $4 billion. In stark contrast, another major Indonesian mining company, Harita Nickel, has fared very differently. It listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in April, raising $672 million—but its share price has since plunged over 60%, weighed down by persistently falling nickel prices. Lithium’s Decline Strong performance in the lithium sector outside China stands out—even though battery-metal prices have tumbled sharply since peaking above $80,000 per tonne in November last year. Yet in Q3, falling battery raw-material prices caused the combined market capitalizations of the six lithium companies ranked among the Top 50 to shrink by more than $30 billion over just three months. The industry’s correction from its 52-week highs has been brutal: Pilbara Minerals—headquartered in Perth—saw its market cap fall 31%, yet still ranked as the best performer in the group. Mineral Resources declined 37%; Albemarle, SQM, Ganfeng, and Tianqi all fell more than 50%. Pilbara Minerals is the only lithium company posting gains year-to-date—and joined the Top 50 last quarter, bringing the number of Western Australian-headquartered firms in the ranking to five, surpassing Vancouver to become the city with the most represented companies. The chances of another Perth-based lithium miner, IGO, entering the Top 50 have grown slim: its market cap now stands at $5.4 billion, pushing it down to the low 60s in the rankings. A merger between U.S.-based Livent and Australia–Argentina lithium producer Allkem is expected to close before year-end 2023—but even the combined entity may fail to crack the Top 50. Their current combined valuation stands at $7.4 billion—just enough to edge out AngloGold Ashanti as the last-ranked company. Yet lithium and gold have followed dramatically divergent paths in 2024. Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting successfully blocked Albemarle’s proposed acquisition of Liontown Resources—and this week, the U.S. lithium giant announced it would withdraw from the deal.

Albemarle Corp. Stock Hits Day Low Amid Price Pressure at $184.85

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Albemarle Corp stock fell 6.33% to $184.85 amid financial pressure. The specialty chemicals firm reports seven consecutive quarters of negative results, with net sales and profits declining sharply.

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