Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has made history as the first U.S. company outside the tech sector to surpass a $1 trillion market value. The conglomerate, led by Warren Buffett, saw its shares rise by 0.9% on Wednesday, pushing its market capitalization beyond the trillion-dollar threshold for the first time. This milestone places Berkshire in the elite group of companies that have achieved this status, a list dominated by tech giants like Alphabet, Meta, and Nvidia. The stock's strong performance this year has been fueled by robust insurance results and growing economic optimism, with Berkshire's market value growing at a pace that has outstripped the broader S&P 500.

Berkshire Hathaway's impressive rally in 2024, which has seen the stock gain 30%, has nearly matched the gains of the so-called Magnificent Seven, a group of the largest tech stocks. This year’s rise in Berkshire’s market value is a testament to Buffett’s decades-long strategy of turning a struggling textile company into a diversified business empire. While analysts express caution about the sustainability of these gains, Berkshire’s “all-weather” portfolio and prudent adjustments, like reducing its Apple stake, have kept the company resilient amid economic shifts. The conglomerate’s wide-ranging businesses, from Dairy Queen to Duracell, have benefited from the broader economic recovery and expectations of lower interest rates.