Berkshire Hathaway made $1.3 billion on financial weapons of mass destruction; earnings beat

Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate run by billionaire Warren Buffett, had a pretty good first quarter. Operating earnings jumped 20{0e584ec94eaa64d073763ee1dc286a1f4d0f941424b1448bbfd01af7d90f9475} year-over year to $2,583 per share. Analysts were looking for $2,373 per share. To be clear, that’s for each A-share of Berkshire Hathaway, which closed at $215,800 on Friday. Total operating earnings jumped to $4.24 billion during the quarter, up from $3.53 billion a year ago. Operating earnings from Berkshire’s insurance underwriting business grew 4{0e584ec94eaa64d073763ee1dc286a1f4d0f941424b1448bbfd01af7d90f9475} to $480 million. Railroad, utilities and energy business …