Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has reported a strong rebound in third-quarter earnings, powered by a resurgence in its insurance operations and disciplined capital management that lifted its cash holdings to an unprecedented level.

The company’s results mark both its financial strength and Buffett’s trademark conservatism, even as markets await a leadership transition that will mark the end of an era for the 95-year-old investor.

The conglomerate’s operating profit — a key measure that excludes investment gains and losses — climbed 34% year over year to $13.49 billion. The growth was largely driven by a surge in insurance underwriting income, which rose more than 200% to $2.37 billion. Stronger performance in its GEICO unit, coupled with higher premium pricing and improved catastrophe management, helped reverse previous underwriting losses. The results, according to some analysts, highlight Berkshire’s ability to capitalize on rising insurance demand in a volatile global market.

Buffett’s decision to keep Berkshire’s cash stockpile untouched drew particular attention. Despite the firm’s share price decline earlier this year, Berkshire did not execute any buybacks during the first nine months of 2025. The restraint is consistent with Buffett’s view that buybacks should only occur when shares trade below intrinsic value — a threshold he clearly does not believe has been met. The absence of repurchases pushed Berkshire’s cash reserves to a record $381.6 billion, surpassing the previous high of $347.7 billion reached in the first quarter.

The company also disclosed that it was a net seller of equities during the quarter, unloading shares for a taxable gain of $10.4 billion. Buffett has often cautioned against chasing overpriced stocks and has been content to hold cash until what he calls “fat pitch” opportunities emerge.

There aren’t many things that look cheap to us right now, Buffett remarked earlier this year, reflecting his cautious stance amid a soaring stock market.

Berkshire’s shares have gained about 5% in 2025, trailing the S&P 500’s 16.3% rise — a gap analysts attribute partly to investor unease over Buffett’s impending retirement. The legendary investor announced in May that he will step down as chief executive at the end of the year after six decades at the helm. Greg Abel, Berkshire’s vice chairman overseeing non-insurance operations, will take over as CEO and begin penning shareholder letters from 2026. Buffett will remain chairman of the board, ensuring a measure of continuity in the conglomerate’s famously decentralized management structure.

Following the succession announcement, Berkshire’s shares fell by double digits from their all-time highs, pointing to what many call the erosion of the “Buffett premium” — the extra valuation investors assign to the company because of Buffett’s unparalleled reputation for capital allocation and long-term discipline. Still, analysts say the company’s fundamentals remain strong, with operating subsidiaries like BNSF Railway, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and Precision Castparts delivering consistent earnings.

The quarter also saw Berkshire make its largest acquisition since 2022 — a $9.7 billion all-cash purchase of Occidental Petroleum’s petrochemical arm, OxyChem. The deal expands Berkshire’s footprint in industrial and energy assets, complementing its long-standing investment in Occidental’s equity and its broader exposure to the oil and gas sector. It comes on the heels of Berkshire’s $11.6 billion purchase of Alleghany Insurance three years ago.

Including investment gains from its massive stock portfolio — which features holdings in Apple, Coca-Cola, American Express, and Chevron — Berkshire’s overall earnings rose 17% year-on-year to $30.8 billion. The company’s Apple stake, worth more than $150 billion, remains its largest single holding, although Buffett recently trimmed the position slightly to manage tax liabilities.

Analysts believe Berkshire’s mounting cash reserves could soon position it as a stabilizing force if equity valuations correct. Buffett is essentially sitting on a war chest the size of a small nation’s GDP. If valuations come down, Berkshire will be in the strongest position globally to act.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on Friday he remained hopeful that the company’s Blackwell AI chips could eventually be sold in China, but emphasized that the decision ultimately rests with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Speaking in Seoul, South Korea, during his first official visit to the country in more than ten years, Huang made the remarks a day after Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held bilateral talks there — a meeting closely watched for its implications on trade and technology cooperation.

“I’m always hopeful that both governments will arrive at a conclusion someday where Nvidia’s technology could be exported to China,” Huang said. “We’re always hoping to return to China, and I think that Nvidia in China is very good. It’s in the best interest of the United States. It’s in the best interest of China.”

Following the talks, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that semiconductors had been discussed and that China would be “talking to Nvidia and others about taking chips,” but clarified that “we’re not talking about the Blackwell.”

The Blackwell chip is Nvidia’s most powerful AI processor yet — and the centerpiece of its latest generation of hardware used in training advanced AI systems. Its export to China has been blocked under U.S. restrictions on high-performance semiconductor sales, part of Washington’s broader strategy to prevent Beijing from gaining access to technologies that could enhance its military or surveillance capabilities.

The U.S.-China standoff over advanced chip technology has become a defining element of global AI competition. Washington’s export controls, first tightened in 2022 and later expanded, prohibit the sale of Nvidia’s most capable AI chips, including the A100, H100, and now the Blackwell, to China.

Huang has spent months urging U.S. policymakers to reconsider those limits, arguing that Chinese AI’s reliance on American-designed hardware ultimately benefits the United States.

He has previously said Chinese AI’s dependence on U.S. hardware is good for America, suggesting that restricting access could backfire by accelerating China’s push toward semiconductor self-sufficiency.

According to sources cited by Reuters, Nvidia has been developing a special variant of its Blackwell chip tailored for China — a model that would fall below the U.S. performance threshold for export bans but still outperform the company’s H20 chip, the most advanced model currently cleared for sale in the Chinese market.

However, the Chinese government has reportedly cooled toward Nvidia, discouraging local firms from purchasing the H20 as part of efforts to strengthen domestic alternatives. Instead, Beijing has been encouraging investment in Huawei Technologies Co., which has aggressively moved to expand its own chip production capacity.

A Shrinking Chinese Market

Huang admitted that Nvidia’s ambitions for a foothold in China have diminished significantly.

“We had been hoping for a non-zero market share in China, but we’re now expecting zero,” he told reporters.

Although the U.S. has expressed national security concerns that Nvidia’s chips could be diverted for military use, Huang dismissed the notion that export controls would meaningfully limit China’s technological capabilities. China’s own domestically produced AI chips are already good enough for their military applications, he said.

He further cautioned against underestimating Huawei’s competitive strength, calling it one of the most capable technology companies in the world.

“It is deeply uninformed to think that Huawei can’t build systems,” Huang said. “It is foolish to underestimate the might of China and the incredible competitive spirit of Huawei. This is a company with extraordinary technology.”

A Complex Balancing Act

Nvidia, now the world’s most valuable semiconductor maker with a market capitalization surpassing $5 trillion, relies heavily on global demand for its AI processors but faces increasing political headwinds as Washington and Beijing vie for dominance in advanced computing.

During his trip to Seoul, Huang said he was delighted with the success of the Trump-Xi meeting, though he was unaware of the specific topics discussed.

“I have every confidence that the two presidents had a very good conversation,” he said. “It doesn’t have to involve anything that I do.”

While Nvidia’s presence in China has been sharply curtailed by U.S. policy, Huang’s remarks suggest that the company remains optimistic about a possible reopening of the Chinese market — a move that could reshape the global AI supply chain if permitted by the Trump administration.

For now, Nvidia’s growth continues to be driven by soaring demand in the U.S., Europe, and South Korea, where it is expanding partnerships with Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Group, and other technology firms investing heavily in AI infrastructure.

However, Nvidia’s future in China remains one of the most consequential questions in the evolving U.S.-China technology rivalry — one that hinges on whether Washington sees strategic advantage in allowing its most advanced chips to flow once again into the world’s second-largest economy.

Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jassy, following the company’s latest wave of layoffs that stunned the tech world, has said the decision to cut 14,000 corporate jobs this week was not about artificial intelligence or finances. It was, instead, about “culture.”

That word—simple yet loaded—has become Jassy’s new mantra as he seeks to redefine how the $1.8 trillion company operates in a post-pandemic world. During Amazon’s earnings call on Thursday, Jassy explained that as the company expanded over the years, it accumulated layers of management, processes, and bureaucracy that, in his view, diluted the sense of ownership among employees.

“As you grow and add more people, locations, and businesses, you end up with a lot more layers,” he said. “Sometimes without realizing it, you can weaken the ownership of the people that you have who are doing the actual work.”

Jassy’s approach is seen as part of his ongoing push to return Amazon to what he calls “the world’s largest startup”—a leaner, faster, and more disciplined company. He has made it a mission to root out inefficiency and restore a performance-driven mindset. Part of that effort includes an anonymous complaint line that has already generated 1,500 reports and resulted in more than 450 process changes.

But not everyone is convinced that “culture” fully explains the layoffs. Earlier reports from Reuters and The Wall Street Journal suggested the cuts—potentially affecting up to 30,000 corporate staff—were a response to overhiring during the pandemic and the growing role of AI in automating tasks. And while Jassy downplayed both factors, his own executives have hinted otherwise.

However, Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice president of experience and technology, wrote that “this generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before.” The comment reinforced concerns that automation is steadily reshaping the company’s workforce—even if Jassy prefers to frame the changes as cultural rather than technological.

Those concerns are not unfounded. Amazon has long been accused of quietly preparing to replace tens of thousands of warehouse workers with robots. The company denied that claim earlier this year, but it also unveiled two new warehouse robots designed to perform tasks traditionally handled by humans.

The layoffs come despite Amazon’s robust financial performance. The company’s third-quarter earnings exceeded Wall Street expectations, with revenue climbing to $180.17 billion and shares surging 14%. That success makes the timing of the job cuts all the more difficult for affected employees, many of whom see “culture” as a euphemism for efficiency drives and cost savings.

Jassy, who has led the company through years of restructuring and cost-cutting, however, insists the goal is to ensure Amazon doesn’t lose the agility that once defined it.

“It can lead to slowing you down as a leadership team,” he said. “We are committed to operating like the world’s largest startup, and that means removing layers.”

The company’s total headcount, which peaked at 1.6 million in 2021, stood at about 1.5 million at the end of last year—a figure likely to fall further as Jassy pursues his vision of a flatter, faster Amazon.

For those inside the company, Jassy’s message is that Amazon’s next chapter won’t just be about AI or automation. It will be about survival in a culture that rewards speed and precision over size—a return to its scrappy origins, even if it means leaving thousands behind.