Berkshire Hathaway has taken a $2.6 billion stake in Delta Air Lines. That makes it their fourteenth largest investment as they look for places to deploy nearly $400 billion in cash.
Warren Buffet is now 95 years old and has stepped down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway but remains its chairman. Given his history, it’s hard to imagine Buffett returning to airline investing, except on the most unusually favorable of terms.
Airlines are a terrible business. They’re capital-intensive, unionized and heavily regulated. Much of their product is determined or provided by the government (airports, security, air traffic control, staffing, signoff on cabin elements). There’s very little moat. And Buffett learned this lesson.
- Warren Buffett famously quoted Richard Branson in his 1996 investor letter that the easiest way to become a millionaire quickly is to “Start as a billionaire and then buy an airline.”
- In 2007, reflecting on how bad an investment airlines are, Buffet wrote that a “farsighted capitalist” should have done humanity a favor by shooting Orville Wright down at Kitty Hawk.
- Buffett said he had a toll-free number to call whenever he felt the urge to buy an airline stock: “My name is Warren and I’m an aeroholic,” and then they would talk him down.
In 1989 Berkshire put $358 million into USAir convertible preferred stock carrying a 9.25% dividend, and conversion into common at $60 per share. That made the investment look safer than the underlying business was, and Buffett later called it an “unforced error” and “sloppy analysis.” From 1990 – 1994, USAir lost $2.4 billion, wiping out shareholders, and they suspended their dividend on Berkshire’s preferred shares in 1994. Berkshire wrote the investment down by 75%, although in the end they actually recovered the position – attributable to luck.
In 2016, Berkshire returned to the airlines with stakes in American, Delta, United, and Southwest. Consolidation, bankruptcies and capacity discipline meant that buying airlines at low valuations might earn a return. Buffett didn’t argue airlines were good businesses, but by the end of 2019 they owned a significiant diversified portfolio of the major carriers:
- Delta: 11%
- American: 10%
- Southwest: 10%
- United: 9%
They sold their airline stakes in April 2020 at a substantial loss, and said they did not want to keep funding companies that would “chew up money” in the future.
Now, Berkshire’s Form 13F for the quarter ended March 31, 2026 which was filed May 15, 2026, reports 39,809,456 shares of Delta Air Lines, valued at $2.6465 billion at the end of Q1. That’s about a 6.1% stake in the airline. Delta is up meaningfully on the news in after hours trading.
Buffett may no longer be chief executive, but Delta was certainly happy to release this in their own 13F:
It will be interesting to see how this third attempt goes for Berkshire Hathaway – and, needing some place to park $400 billion, whether they’re tempted deeper into the airlines.
I wouldn’t give Delta a beat up wooden nickel for investment
Hopefully they have some inside information we don’t
Ahh, so it was Warren Buffett quoting Richard Branson, after all. And, here I was hoping it was his long-lost cousin Jimmy… time for a Margaritaville airline!
@ Gary — I hope they are right!
I question whether DAL is some great buy at $66.48 per share. I think not. When oil hits $150 in July, I imagine the stock will be available for much less. Maybe BRK will up their share to 9.x% if the price drops significantly.
Warren has retired. His investment strategy may no longer apply in an age of unhinged governance
Warren always had a knack for Delta quality and that has apparently not changed
@ Tim — Delta quality?
@ Maryland — He may still come to the office most days, but if you watched the interview he did with Becky Quick during the Berjshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Meeting, you would likely agree he isn’t mentally all there anymore. Very sad.
“ Warren always had a knack for Delta quality and that has apparently not changed”
You’re such a loser. I figured even you would know that Greg Abel now runs BRK, but I guess your Delta idiocracy knows no bounds. Get a life.
Interesting that this happened after Buffet retired. If nothing else I suppose the investment might make sense for a few reasons:
Delta is absolutely ruthless and will tolerate no other airport anywhere in the greater Atlanta vicinity. That buttresses their fortress hub hugely.
Delta threatens allies until the allies either capitulate to what Delta wants (Virgin, Korean, etc) or rebel (Alaska). Delta will spend gigantic resources to revenge themselves on any rebellious former allies. For example, see Seattle. This gives Delta incredible power over their partners, and thereby a lot of foreign markets as well.
Delta is simply amoral. As long as they can squeeze customers they simply don’t care. They’ll make some efforts to keep positive media exposure but they’ll do what they feel like pretty much no matter what. Remember Qatar coming to town in ATL and Delta revoking support for the Fox because the theatre dared to host a Qatar party?
Delta is vicious as a competitor. If Delta has a chance to use any advantage, regardless of legal or moral issues they won’t hesitate to do so. I particularly like them giving high elite status for free to elected officials. In other circles that would look an awful lot like a bribe.
Delta’s CEO’s – while they will abandon the passengers and the airline in midst of any crisis because the crisis comes at an inconvenient time – are generally quite competent.
In sum you have an airline with incredible advantages, which they’ve been happy to leverage at pretty much any cost to improve their position. Bastian may be an amoral weasel but he’s always ready to damage a competitor, doesn’t care about passengers, and will do whatever is needed to keep partners doing what Delta wants. Add in the fortress hubs and Delta is looking like a pretty good bet. As an ex-Delta loyalist I don’t like or agree with the way Delta has been run for some years now but it’s tough to argue on a purely financial level that they’re not effective.
Feel better, Christian? There is help for those kind of harmful emotions.
Warren chose Delta this time and put more into DAL before.
That means he rejected a whole lot of other airlines.
Sorry it stings so bad to find out that financial quality really does matter
@Tim Dunn — Warren is 95. Maybe he’s not concerned about long-term financials and is merely doing a pump n’ dump one more time before he kicks the bucket? Unless he lives to 150.
He may not be running the show but he left good notes
@Tim Dunn — So, he’s Autopen-ing it in? Oof… not sure that’s the ringing endorsement you/DL wants.
I’m guessing the DL haters hate this. As a (small) BRK investor, I hope they’re right.
This is a piggyback structure for their AMEX holdings. Read the fine print kids.
1990
please do some research.
There was a pretty public leadership handoff.
Gary got it right. Warren himself is not investing in DAL; BRK is.
and DAL stock is up 40% over the past year, outperforming not only all other large US airlines but also the DJIA and the S&P500 and on track w/ the tech heavy NASDAP
You do not get to be rich by “investing.” You get rich by pump and dump.
Buffet is behind the times on this one. Yes, Delta has had superb management for decades. Has had. Now they have a guy who is just coasting on the success of his predecessors. He just made a very bad call on what passengers now want most: inflight WiFi that is free, fast, and reliable.
That stuff comes from StarLink and United is well on its way to to installing it fleet wide. This move is going to leave Delta and American in the dust, especially on profitable, long haul international travel.
@ George Romey — You are WRONG as usual.
arrow,
and yet DL’s profits were 50% higher than its closest competitor in 2025 and the gap will be widening this year.
As much as you want to think only one factor matters, Delta has succeeded in delivering a more complete package as an aviation business – including non-transportation revenue – of any airline in the world.
And, you might want to swing by Ben’s site where he discusses the epic failures that are taking place across UA’s network with its Panasonic equipped widebodies; real passengers say it is happening alot more than anyone has been lead to believe. And it is happening on AA as well.
UA has hyped Starlink so much while their legacy WiFI – which still exists on 90% of their mainline fleet – continues to get worse and worse.
BRK sees that DL’s future is going to go up more than the industry with the refinery, with exclusive engine maintenance rights, and with a network in which DL continues to plow profits into competitive markets, giving DL a larger and more complete network than any other airline
Given that DAL stock is outperforming a number of market indices, it was only a matter of time before some serious attention highlighted how much better DL is run not just as a business but also as an airline
“Stock is up over 40%” – whenever someone wants to skew statistics to their favor, and make something modest sound super impressive, they use a percentage comparison instead of raw numbers. It’s the “tell” you can look for. “Fastest growing”, “largest increase” – it’s all the same. Example: If a bad company’s stock goes from $1 to $2, but a solid company goes from $100 to $150, the bad company can claim the “increased at twice the rate!” of the other.
Such increases can be caused by a company going from good to becoming really great (and the stock market recognizing the new value). It can also be because a company was really bad, and are only now getting average. Two different reasons can both produce “40% growth over the past year!” and why anyone should be skeptical when percentage comparisons, alone, are given.
More? Volaris is up 51% – “More than 25% higher growth rate in stock price than Delta!” – but I don’t think anyone would argue Volaris is a better airline.
Whatever. Tim always reverts to financials. Even if he is 100% right, he only makes a great argument about why to become a Delta Investor. But the product provided gives plenty of reasons not to be a Delta Passenger.
@ Tim: “And, you might want to swing by Ben’s site where he discusses the epic failures that are taking place across UA’s network with its Panasonic equipped widebodies; real passengers say it is happening alot more than anyone has been lead to believe. And it is happening on AA as well.
UA has hyped Starlink so much while their legacy WiFI – which still exists on 90% of their mainline fleet – continues to get worse and worse.”
Wait, wait, wait.
I thought you said, when sites are discussing that UA will have Starlink done by the end of next year, before DL even STARTS installing LEO sometime in 2028 (in only 500 planes – NOT their entire fleet) that Wifi doesn’t matter that much… that there’s no data to show that people will choose one airline over another based on having a superior Wifi product installed… that UA’s growth over the last five years (without “highspeed wifi” as you define it) is proof that the Wifi product isn’t important for consumer choice…
Tim being inconsistent. Shocking!
As a large and long time holder of Berkshire it’s incredibly disappointing
I feel his pain on airlines. I once took advantage of some traders algo error and was able to short a $25 par bond of American air at $199,999.99. So, having the advantage of being a firm trader I used the firm’s capital to short 10,000 shares. My P&L showed I was up almost $2 billion , generating a raft of phone calls.
Imagine my total surprise when the ECN decided on it’s own to cancel the trades. I can now say I’ve made more on a trade and lost more on a trade than Warren.
Net capital violations be damned!
@Tim Dunn — Whether it’s BRK, Gary, or yourself, you’re all seemingly riding off Warren Buffet’s coattails, here. Perhaps, the ‘hype’ will sustain you all.
For all of the pundits who hate Delta for whatever reason, you can keep doing it. As one person has noted, Delta IS the most profitable airline in the United States. With all of the bitching and moaning about the way Delta does this or that…the jets are pretty full. There are very few “fist fights” at the gates or on the jets. The employees are treated well, paid well and, when things go well, they get a substantial check on Valentine’s Day. So, as I see it, the bitchers, moaners, nay-sayers and the like are flat ass…JEALOUS!
Pilot Paul and others can only manipulate what I and others have said because they can’t compete with the logic I offer.
Nowhere have I ever said that high speed WiFI doesn’t matter. I have said – which is the fact – that DL has functioning high speed WiFi on 90% of its mainline fleet including across the Atlantic and to Latin America – while AA and UA and other Panasonic users are melting down with no functioning WiFi.
and Win is correct. Some want to ignore that DAL stock has beat major market indices even as AAL stockholders want to oust current mgmt and UAL continues to spend money like a drunken sailor and fail to deliver anywhere close to financial results in line wiht DAL and as LUV still tries to dig itself out of over a decade of mismanagement.
BRK chose DAL because DAL is performing at the top of the global industry and has the potential to, once again, extend its lead even further because of structural advantages which no other airline can match.
“You do not get to be rich by ‘investing.’ You get rich by pump and dump.”
You look at Buffet, you see he is extraordinarily rich, and you see he got that way by investing (not pump and dump). Still, you make that (stupid IMHO) comment.
Tim, your “facts” simply aren’t accurate. You claim: “BRK chose DAL because DAL is performing at the top of the global industry.”
Delta isn’t “at the top.” They are not even in the top 20. And this isn’t from AI – it is public data.
Here are the current operating profit margins of the top 30 airlines worldwide:
Rank / Airline / Profit margin:
1 Bangkok Airways 26.15%
2 Air Arabia 24.23%
3 Copa Holdings 21.43%
4 Cargojet 20.98%
5 EVA Air 17.38%
6 LATAM Airlines 16.73%
7 InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo) 16.68%
8 Ryanair 16.65%
9 Pegasus Airlines 15.61%
10 Spring Airlines 15.56%
11 Volaris 15.07%
12 Singapore Airlines 14.99%
13 Turkish Airlines 14.11%
14 International Consolidated Airlines (British Airways , Iberia, Air Europa, Vueling, Level and Aer Lingus) 14.08%
15 SkyWest 13.40%
16 Grupo Aeromexico 12.40%
17 China Airlines 11.24%
18 Qantas Airways 10.78%
19 Cathay Pacific 10.73%
20 Aegean Airlines 10.23%
21 Vietnam Airlines 10.12%
22 Delta Air Lines 9.76%
23 ANA Holdings 8.69%
24 Japan Airlines 8.61%
25 Enter Air 8.19%
26 Hainan Airlines 8.06%
27 VietJet Aviation 7.99%
28 United Airlines Holdings 7.28%
29 Korean Air Lines 6.46%
30 Lufthansa 6.23%
Delta performs well in the airline industry. But they are not the glowing, worldwide leader you profess them to be. And the facts back it up.