Business segment data (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Schedule of revenues, earnings before income taxes, interest expense, income tax expense, capital expenditures, depreciation, goodwill and identifiable assets by segment

A disaggregation of our consolidated data for each of the three most recent years is presented as follows (in millions).

	Revenues								Earnings (loss) before income taxes
	2023			2022		2021			2023			2022			2021
Operating Businesses
Insurance:
Underwriting:
GEICO	$	39,264		$	38,984	$	37,706		$	3,635		$	(1,880	)	$	1,259
Berkshire Hathaway Primary Group		17,129			13,746		11,575			1,374			393			607
Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group		27,010			21,846		20,179			1,904			1,465			(755	)
Insurance underwriting		83,403			74,576		69,460			6,913			(22	)		1,111
Investment income		11,619			7,734		5,662			11,581			7,724			5,649
Total insurance		95,022			82,310		75,122			18,494			7,702			6,760
BNSF		23,876			25,888		23,282			6,614			7,708			7,861
BHE		26,008			26,393		25,096			940			3,146			3,293
PTC		51,739			—		—			968			—			—
Manufacturing		75,405			75,781		68,730			11,445			11,177			9,841
McLane		52,607			53,209		49,450			455			271			230
Service and retailing		39,996			38,303		34,832			4,721			4,771			4,481
		364,653			301,884		276,512			43,637			34,775			32,466
Reconciliation to consolidated amount
Investment and derivative gains (losses)		—			—		—			74,855			(67,899	)		78,542
Interest expense, not allocated to segments		—			—		—			(426	)		(420	)		(455	)
Non-controlled businesses		—			—		—			1,973			1,863			886
Corporate, eliminations and other		(171	)		136		(327	)		127			1,181			422
	$	364,482		$	302,020	$	276,185		$	120,166		$	(30,500	)	$	111,861

	Interest expense									Income tax expense (benefit)
	2023			2022			2021			2023			2022			2021
Operating Businesses
Insurance	$	—		$	—		$	—		$	3,497		$	1,247		$	1,083
BNSF		1,048			1,025			1,032			1,527			1,763			1,871
BHE		2,283			2,140			2,054			(2,022	)		(1,629	)		(1,153	)
PTC		414			—			—			169			—			—
Manufacturing		784			739			704			2,487			2,403			2,193
McLane		—			—			—			117			66			61
Service and retailing		101			42			38			1,135			1,131			1,086
		4,630			3,946			3,828			6,910			4,981			5,141
Reconciliation to consolidated amount
Investment and derivative gains (losses)		—			—			—			15,930			(14,166	)		16,025
Interest expense, not allocated to segments		426			420			455			(90	)		(88	)		(96	)
Non-controlled businesses		—			—			—			223			334			82
Corporate, eliminations and other		(53	)		(14	)		(111	)		46			437			(240	)
	$	5,003		$	4,352		$	4,172		$	23,019		$	(8,502	)	$	20,912

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

(26)Business segment data

	Capital expenditures						Depreciation of tangible assets
	2023		2022		2021		2023		2022		2021
Operating Businesses
Insurance	$	68	$	82	$	62	$	72	$	69	$	72
BNSF		3,920		3,532		2,910		2,581		2,479		2,406
BHE		9,148		7,505		6,611		3,913		3,702		3,584
PTC		705		—		—		510		—		—
Manufacturing		2,714		2,477		2,100		2,099		2,021		2,037
McLane		264		93		106		208		176		189
Service and retailing		2,590		1,775		1,487		1,275		1,219		1,177
	$	19,409	$	15,464	$	13,276	$	10,658	$	9,666	$	9,465

	Goodwill at year-end						Identifiable assets at year-end
	2023		2022		2021		2023		2022		2021
Operating Businesses
Insurance	$	16,563	$	16,548	$	15,181	$	538,860	$	459,917	$	483,417
BNSF		15,350		14,852		14,852		79,227		77,752		76,586
BHE		11,804		11,745		11,906		124,383		118,114		113,447
PTC		6,605		—		—		21,404		—		—
Manufacturing		27,831		28,460		25,463		115,875		113,578		107,231
McLane		232		232		232		6,861		7,049		6,841
Service and retailing		6,241		6,282		6,241		34,600		31,291		28,221
	$	84,626	$	78,119	$	73,875		921,210		807,701		815,743
Reconciliation to consolidated amount
Corporate and other								64,142		62,645		69,770
Goodwill								84,626		78,119		73,875
							$	1,069,978	$	948,465	$	959,388

Schedule of premiums written and earned

Property/casualty and life/health insurance premiums written and earned are summarized below (in millions).

	Property/Casualty									Life/Health
	2023			2022			2021			2023			2022			2021
Premiums Written:
Direct	$	61,990		$	56,700		$	53,829		$	—		$	582		$	646
Assumed		20,751			15,143			12,461			5,126			5,222			5,670
Ceded		(2,402	)		(1,155	)		(1,015	)		(33	)		(37	)		(40	)
	$	80,339		$	70,688		$	65,275		$	5,093		$	5,767		$	6,276
Premiums Earned:
Direct	$	60,437		$	55,879		$	52,139		$	—		$	582		$	646
Assumed		20,442			14,184			12,072			5,105			5,263			5,698
Ceded		(2,548	)		(1,293	)		(1,054	)		(33	)		(39	)		(41	)
	$	78,331		$	68,770		$	63,157		$	5,072		$	5,806		$	6,303

Schedule of insurance premiums written by geographic region

Insurance premiums written by geographic region (based upon the domicile of the insured or reinsured) are summarized below (in millions).

	Property/Casualty						Life/Health
	2023		2022		2021		2023		2022		2021
United States	$	67,831	$	59,648	$	55,451	$	1,285	$	2,107	$	2,143
Asia Pacific		5,306		4,699		3,822		1,760		1,704		2,030
Western Europe		5,014		4,901		4,613		1,323		1,235		1,298
All other		2,188		1,440		1,389		725		721		805
	$	80,339	$	70,688	$	65,275	$	5,093	$	5,767	$	6,276