UnitedHealth Group shares climb as Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway
discloses stake in the insurer
[August 16, 2025] By
MICHELLE CHAPMAN
Shares of UnitedHealth Group are surging before the market open Friday
as Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that it recently
purchased shares of the beleaguered insurer.
Berkshire Hathaway bought around 5 million shares of UnitedHealth last
quarter, according to a regulatory filing. The stake was valued at about
$1.57 billion.
Buffett plans to retire as CEO at the end of the year after six decades
of building Berkshire Hathaway. Many investors comb through Berkshire’s
filings every quarter because they like to follow Buffett’s moves.
The filing doesn’t make clear who at Berkshire handled the investment.
Besides Buffett, Ted Weschler and Todd Combs also pick stocks, but they
generally handle smaller portfolios and Combs also serves as Geico’s
CEO.
Besides stocks, Berkshire owns dozens of companies in a variety of
industries including Geico insurance, BNSF railroad, several major
utilities and an assortment of manufacturing and retail companies. The
Omaha, Nebraska-based company’s holdings include many well-known brands
like See’s Candy and Dairy Queen.
UnitedHealth has been dealing with a series of difficulties. Last month
the company said that it was cooperating with federal criminal and civil
investigations involving its market-leading Medicare business.
The health care giant said at the time that it had contacted the
Department of Justice after reviewing media reports about investigations
into certain elements of its business.
Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal said federal officials had
launched a civil fraud investigation into how the company records
diagnoses that lead to extra payments for its Medicare Advantage, or MA,
plans. Those are privately run versions of the government’s Medicare
coverage program mostly for people ages 65 and over.
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Pages from the United Healthcare website are displayed on a computer
screen, Feb. 29, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File)
 The company’s UnitedHealthcare
business covers more than 8 million people as the nation’s largest
provider of Medicare Advantage plans. The business has been under
pressure in recent quarters due to rising care use and rate cuts.
The Journal said in February, citing anonymous sources, that the
probe focused on billing practices in recent months.
The paper has since said that a federal criminal health care-fraud
unit was investigating how the company used doctors and nurses to
gather diagnoses that bolster payments.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. runs one of the nation’s largest health
insurance and pharmacy benefits management businesses. It also
operates a growing Optum business that provides care and technology
support.
UnitedHealth's stock has mostly shed value since December, when
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot in midtown
Manhattan on his way to the company’s annual investor meeting. A
suspect, Luigi Mangione, has been charged in connection with the
shooting.
In April, shares plunged some more after the company cut its
forecast due to a spike in health care use. A month later, former
CEO Andrew Witty resigned, and the company withdrew its forecast
entirely, saying that medical costs from new Medicare Advantage
members were higher than expected.
UnitedHealth's stock jumped more than 12% in premarket trading on
Friday. Still, the stock has lost roughly half its value in the past
year.
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