In the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio $BRK.B (+0,27 %) Warren Buffett has the companies Mitsubishi $8058 (-0,6 %), Mitsui $8031 (+0,14 %), Itochu $8001 (+0,54 %), Marubeni $8002 (-0,26 %) and Sumitomo $8053 (+0,9 %).
The five companies are conglomerates. They do business in many different sectors: Industrial metals, oil and gas, food and agriculture, automotive supply chains, infrastructure, real estate, finance, industry, chemicals, media, digital technology, consumer goods and healthcare.
"We like their capital allocation as well as their management and attitude towards shareholders," said Buffett, explaining his decision to buy. "All five companies increase their dividends when appropriate, they buy back their own shares when it makes sense, and their top managers are far less aggressive in their remuneration programs than their US counterparts," the well-known investor continues.
However, the economic environment in Japan is anything but rosy at the moment: corporate profits were weak in the second quarter and suffered above all from the US tariffs.
The country's demographics also harbor risks for Japan investors. "Japan's structural problems are likely to remain unsolved because the ageing society has no strength for reform," warned Gunther Schnabl, Director of the Flossbach von Storch Research Institute in Cologne.
Buffett, known as the "Oracle of Omaha" after his US headquarters, has selected Japanese companies that diversify across different sectors and cycles, benefit from commodity trading and also pay high dividends. Commodities traditionally perform well in an internationally inflationary environment.
For investors, this means that bargain hunters can currently come across undervalued quality stocks in Japan whose diversified business segments are able to cope well with possible international risks.
Source text (excerpt): Handelsblatt, 28.09.25
