Buffett takes a $1.5B loss on ConocoPhillips, derivatives

Berkshire Hathaway stock over a year.

Warren Buffett's company reported a $1.5-billion US first-quarter loss as it wrote down its ConocoPhillips investment, and unrealized derivative losses helped drag Berkshire Hathaway's results below the year-earlier's roughly $900-million profit.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said Friday it recorded a loss of $990 per share in this year's quarter. In the same period a year earlier, the Omaha-based company reported $607 net income per class A share.

Buffett has already acknowledged making a major mistake by buying a large amount of ConocoPhillips stock when oil and gas prices were near their peak last year.

Berkshire says it sold 13.7 million of its 79.9 million shares of ConocoPhillips during the first quarter to generate a loss that can offset past capital gains taxes.

Berkshire B stock closed $80 higher at $3,132 in New York trading.

The Canadian Press, 2009