Wild: Warren Buffett is now sitting on $381.7 billion in cash, and he’s refusing to buy 😳
Five straight quarters, zero buybacks.
No major stock purchases.
And $6.1 billion in net equity sold last quarter 🤯
When the most disciplined buyer in history won’t even buy himself, something’s off.
Here’s what Buffett is really saying: “The market’s expensive. I’ll wait.”
→ Berkshire trades at a 72% premium to book value - far above Buffett’s comfort zone.
→ The Buffett Indicator (total market cap vs GDP) just hit 217%, well past his old “playing with fire” warning at 200%.
In other words, prices are stretched, risk is high, and patience is profit.
Meanwhile:
→ Operating earnings are up 34% YoY to $13.5 billion.
→ Insurance and rail are humming.
→ The business is thriving but Buffett’s buy button stays untouched.
Because performance means nothing if valuations already price in perfection.
The pattern is familiar here.
→ Late ’90s: Buffett sat on cash while dot-coms soared.
→ 2007: he held back, then deployed billions when markets crashed.
→ 2025: same discipline - bigger numbers.
His $382 billion war chest is dry powder for when panic returns.
And it always does.
At 95, Buffett’s still teaching the hardest rule in investing:
Sometimes the bravest move is doing nothing.
source : Linas Beliūnas
