Falling stocks, Kraft Heinz trigger huge Berkshire loss

Falling stocks, Kraft Heinz trigger huge Berkshire loss
FILE PHOTO - Bottles of Heinz tomato ketchup of U.S. food company Kraft Heinz are offered at a supermarket of Swiss retail group Coop in Zumikon, Switzerland December 13, 2016. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo Copyright Arnd Wiegmann(Reuters)
By Reuters
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(Reuters) - Sinking stocks and deteriorating prospects from an investment in Kraft Heinz Co pummelled the bottom line of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, which on Saturday reported a large quarterly net loss even though operating profit rose.

The fourth-quarter net loss was $25.39 billion (19.45 billion pounds), or $15,467 per Class A share, reflecting more than $27.6 billion of investment losses, including from stocks Berkshire still owns.

Results included a $3.02 billion writedown for intangible assets that Buffett said was "almost entirely" attributable to Kraft Heinz, which on Thursday reported its own $15.4 billion writedown for Kraft, Oscar Mayer and other assets.

Berkshire's operating profit, meanwhile, rose to $5.72 billion from $3.34 billion.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

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