Warren Buffett’s bet on the "Sogo Shosha": This is how Berkshire Hathaway’s Japan investments are doing

• In his final years as Berkshire CEO, Warren Buffett built up and expanded holdings in Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Itochu, Marubeni and Sumitomo
• Berkshire Hathaway’s Japan bet very successful
• Significance of “Sogo Shosha” for Buffett’s successor Abel comparable to major US holdings

In July 2019, Berkshire Hathaway invested for the first time in the five major Japanese trading companies Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Itochu, Marubeni and Sumitomo, as Warren Buffett reflected in his 2025 letter to shareholders. “We just looked at their financial reports and were surprised by the low stock prices,” said the legendary investor. Over the years, the admiration for the Japanese companies has grown steadily – as has the investment holding company’s stake in the companies, which are also referred to as “Sogo Shosha”. “All five companies raise their dividends when appropriate and buy back their own shares when it makes sense. Their top managers take significantly less aggressive approaches to their compensation programs than their US counterparts,” enthused Buffett.

In April 2023, the legendary investor explained his involvement in Japan to CNBC as follows: “I just thought these were big companies. These were companies that I generally understood what they were doing. Similar in a way to Berkshire in that they had a lot of different interests. […] And they were traded at, in my opinion, a ridiculous price, especially compared to the interest rates prevailing at the time.” The decision to use the “Sogo Shosha” was therefore “easy.”

Berkshire’s Japan investments have been a success so far

In fact, the star investor has once again demonstrated good instincts with his Japan bet: When Buffett built up his investments in Japan, the stock market there had hardly seen any growth for almost three decades. But while this may have deterred other investors, the then Berkshire CEO saw it as an opportunity – and was right. Under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Japan focused on pro-growth reforms and deregulation. As a result, the Nikkei reached new record highs – and the Japanese stock market performed significantly better than the S&P 500.

After it had originally been agreed with the Japanese companies that Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholding would not exceed the ten percent threshold, a few years after the investment they mutually agreed to relax this limit. As of Dec. 31, 2025, Berkshire Hathaway held a 10.8 percent stake in Mitsubishi worth $9.207 billion, according to its annual report. The 10.1 percent stake in Itochu was worth $8.886 billion at year-end, while the 10.4 percent stake in Mitsui was worth $8.785 billion. At the end of 2025, Berkshire held around 9.8 percent of Marubeni, making the stake worth $4.468 billion. The 9.7 percent stake in Sumitomo had a market value of $4.022 billion. Overall, all of Berkshire Hathaway’s Japan holdings were worth a whopping $35.368 billion at the end of 2025 – compared to an investment total of $15.382 billion.

But that’s not all: In addition to their performance, the Japanese trading houses also impress with their dividend payments. According to the latest annual report, Berkshire received a total of $862 million in dividend payments from these investments in 2025. This means that the income from the dividends exceeds the interest costs of the yen debt that was taken out to finance the investments. According to statements by Warren Buffett in his last letter to shareholders, this will probably only amount to around 135 million US dollars in 2025. According to Forbes, such a construction is “typical of Buffett: taking out loans in yen at less than 1 percent interest, while the investments deliver dividend yields of around 4 percent.” The interest carry therefore clearly works in Berkshire’s favor.

Buffett wanted to keep “Sogo Shosha” long-term – but what does his successor Greg Abel think?

Shortly after Berkshire Hathaway’s first investment in the five Japanese companies, the investment holding company made it clear that these would be longer-term investments. According to “Capital,” Warren Buffett went one better at the annual general meeting in 2025 and declared that “in the next 50 years […] Don’t waste any thought on selling them.” Instead, he sees Berkshire’s job as a major investor now as “cheering and clapping.”

However, at the beginning of 2026, Warren Buffett has stepped down from his CEO position and handed over management of Berkshire Hathaway to his successor Greg Abel. This means that the decision on all investments is now incumbent on him. However, in his last shareholder letter from 2025, Buffett expressed confidence that Abel would continue on the path taken in Japan. “I expect that Greg and his successors will hold this Japanese position for many decades and that Berkshire will continue to find other ways to work productively with the five companies in the future,” the star investor wrote. Abel has often met with the five companies in the past and, like Buffett himself, he also liked their capital investment strategy, their management and their dealings with investors.

And in fact, the new Berkshire CEO Greg Abel seems to be at least as enthusiastic about the Japanese investments as his legendary predecessor. In his first letter to Berkshire shareholders at the beginning of 2026, Abel put “Sogo Shosha” on a par with the investment holding company’s most important US holdings. “Much of our portfolio is focused on a small number of American companies such as Apple, American Express, Coca-Cola and Moody’s – companies that we understand well, whose leaders we value highly and that we expect will experience strong growth for decades to come. We will continue this focused approach, with only limited activity in these holdings. However, we reserve the right to significantly adjust a holding if we see fundamental changes in their long-term economic prospects. […] The same criteria apply to our investments in Japan, which we consider to be comparable to our most important US investments in terms of their importance and long-term value creation potential,” wrote Abel. The new man at the helm of Berkshire Hathaway is thus explicitly committed to Warren Buffett’s previous strategy and his Japan investments and is thus setting an important exclamation mark for the future of the investment holding company.

Editorial team finanzen.net

Selected leverage products on American Express

With knock-outs, speculative investors can participate disproportionately in price movements. Simply select the lever you want and we will show you suitable open-end products on American Express

The leverage must be between 2 and 20

Advertising