Marubeni Corporation

Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel said Wednesday that rising bond yields in Japan are not weighing on the major Japanese trading companies in which the conglomerate holds stakes. During an appearance on CNBC's "Squawk Box" while visiting Tokyo, Abel said not a single trading company raised it as a fundamental challenge, noting that Japan's yields, while at multi-decade highs, remain relatively modest compared to other global yields. Japan's 10-year bond yield hit a 30-year high this week, reaching just above 3%, while the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield crossed 4.8% on Tuesday. Berkshire holds stakes exceeding 10% in five major Japanese trading houses — Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, and Sumitomo — and Abel said the company intends to hold these positions for decades and continue tapping the yen bond market when needed. He also discussed Berkshire's investment in Alphabet, viewing Google's parent as a significant player in artificial intelligence, and addressed data center power supply, saying Berkshire is open to supplying power to large computing firms only if it does not raise rates for existing customers.

Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel deployed roughly $23.5 billion into nine publicly traded companies last quarter, marking the conglomerate's first quarter as a net buyer of stocks since 2022. The largest investment was Alphabet, with a $10 billion private placement in June plus an additional $5 billion to $7 billion in open-market purchases, making it Berkshire's third-largest marketable equity holding. Other U.S. additions included Macy's, Delta Airlines, Lennar, New York Times, and a new position in D.R. Horton, while earlier disclosures revealed increased stakes in Japanese trading houses Mitsubishi, Marubeni, and Sumitomo. The article highlights Alphabet as the best of the bunch, citing its $514 billion contracted revenue backlog, expanding cloud operating margin to 35.6%, and a forward earnings multiple of 16.5 times.

Marubeni announced on the 3rd a share buyback of up to 40 million shares, representing 2.5% of its outstanding shares, with a maximum total cost of 100 billion yen. The repurchase period runs from the 4th through March 31, 2027. The company said that, with greater confidence in generating the free cash flow envisioned in its medium-term management strategy, it aims to enhance shareholder returns and improve capital efficiency.

Berkshire Hathaway increased its holdings in Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, and Marubeni during the second quarter, according to Japanese regulatory filings. The conglomerate's stake in Mitsubishi rose to 11.1% as of April 30, while its Sumitomo position reached 10.3% as of May 12, up from 9.3%, and its Marubeni stake also climbed above 10%. These three are part of a group of five Japanese trading houses that Berkshire began buying in 2019, with the total cost of all five positions at $15.4 billion and their market value at $35.4 billion at the end of 2025. The investments are funded with yen-denominated borrowings carrying an average interest cost of just 1.2%, and the five companies paid Berkshire a combined $862 million in dividends last year.

Berkshire Hathaway's new investment chief Greg Abel purchased shares of Alphabet, Mitsubishi, Marubeni, and Sumitomo during the second quarter, according to regulatory filings. Abel's largest buy was Alphabet, where Berkshire agreed to a $10 billion private placement split evenly between Class A and Class C shares as part of the company's $84.75 billion equity offering to fund AI data centers. Alphabet holds a 91% share of global internet search and saw Google Cloud sales jump 63% in the first quarter. Abel also added to Berkshire's stakes in three of Japan's five trading houses, with purchases of Mitsubishi, Marubeni, and Sumitomo reported between April 30 and May 12, drawn by their low valuations and shareholder-friendly capital-return programs.

EagleRidge Energy, a leading U.S. natural gas operator, has been acquired by Marubeni Corporation. The acquisition will help Marubeni expand its energy operations and natural gas assets across North America. EagleRidge is the third largest operator in the Barnett Shale, operating over 3,500 wells and producing 300 MMcfe/d across 450,000 gross acres. The entire EagleRidge management and operational team will remain in place, with Tom Ashton and Sam Miller serving as co-Presidents, Hiroki Shima as Chairman, and Michael Ronca as Vice Chairman.