Berkshire Hathaway was the first U.S. business founded outside technology to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization.
Berkshire Hathaway crossed the $1 trillion valuation threshold in August 2024. The company is best known as a diversified holding company led for decades by Warren Buffett, rather than as a conventional technology business.
Its operations and investments span insurance, railroads, utilities, energy, manufacturing, retail, and publicly traded equities. Berkshire’s insurance activities, especially its large pool of investable premiums, have been central to its financial structure and long-term investment strategy.
The company’s unusual share price is partly explained by its refusal to split Class A shares, which have traded at hundreds of thousands of dollars per share. Market capitalization avoids confusion caused by share price alone because it measures the value of all outstanding shares.