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Warren Buffett’s Japan investment has turned into a roughly $24 billion gain for Berkshire Hathaway.
The story began in 2019, when Berkshire started buying stakes in five major Japanese trading companies.
Those companies are Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Itochu, Marubeni and Sumitomo.
Berkshire initially invested about $6.5 billion for 5% stakes in each company.
It later increased its investments, bringing total cash invested to roughly $13.8 billion.
By early 2026, those holdings were worth around $38 billion, representing approximately a $24 billion gain.
And Berkshire isn’t simply walking away from Japan.
The company’s new CEO, Greg Abel, has said the investments are intended to be held for many decades.
In fact, recent reports say Berkshire may increase its stakes in the five trading houses even further.
Berkshire now owns more than 10% of each of the five companies.
The Japanese investments have also generated substantial dividend income while Berkshire financed part of the strategy with yen-denominated debt.
So the bigger story isn’t Buffett abandoning Japan — it’s that one of his major international bets has produced enormous gains while Berkshire continues expanding its commitment.
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