Berkshire's earnings fall 9%

Nov. 7, 2014 4:10 PM PT

Associated Press

Reporting from omaha, neb. —

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reported a 9% drop in third-quarter profit versus the same period a year ago, when the company had large investment gains.

Berkshire said Friday that it earned $4.62 billion, or $2,811 per Class A share. That’s down from $5.05 billion, or $3,074 per share, last year.

Revenue grew 10% to $51.2 billion.

Berkshire wrote down the value of its investment in British retailer Tesco by $678 million. Buffett told CNBC in an interview last month that the Tesco investment was a mistake. Berkshire has begun selling some of the shares.

Last year the company had $1.2 billion in investment gains related to deals made during the financial crisis.

The four analysts surveyed by FactSet expected Berkshire to report earnings per share of $2,560.29.