Howard Buffett has been elected board chair of Berkshire Hathaway as Warren Buffett takes another step back, with Greg Abel already running operations. Berkshire's Q2 operating earnings rose to $12.98 billion from $11.16 billion, and the company became a net buyer of stocks for the first time in over three years, deploying roughly $23.5 billion including a $10 billion private placement in Alphabet, plus about $4.5 billion of its own shares repurchased. The company's market cap stands near $1.1 trillion, with a P/E of 13x, a P/B of 1.4x, and debt/equity of 0.19, while its $380 billion cash position as of Q1 remains a permanent-capital advantage peers cannot replicate. The succession news has renewed investor interest in which public companies embody Buffett's playbook, with Willis Towers Watson, Warrior Met Coal, and St. Joe cited as candidates. Willis Towers Watson posted Q2 FY26 adjusted diluted EPS of $3.35, up 17%, on revenue of $2.466 billion, up 9.1% year over year, and added $1.5 billion to its buyback authority. Warrior Met Coal reported Q2 FY26 adjusted diluted EPS of $3.35, revenue of $509.69 million, up 71.3% year over year, and a free cash flow swing to $103.35 million from negative $56.70 million as the $1.02 billion Blue Creek mine came fully online. St. Joe posted its best quarter in two decades, with revenue of $158.8 million, up 23% year over year, net income of $40.5 million, up 37%, and a share count of 56,991,651, the lowest since 1997.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc
Alphabet Inc Class C
Warrior Met Coal Inc
St Joe Company
Willis Towers Watson PLC