Berkshire holds about 400 million Coca-Cola shares, at a cost of about $1.3 billion, with annual dividends of about $848 million
Berkshire Hathaway bought Coca-Cola stock in batches from 1988 to 1994, ultimately building a position of about 400 million shares at a total cost of about $1.3 billion (about $1.299 billion). The company has not sold the position to this day.
As disclosed through the end of 2025 and in mid-2026, Berkshire still holds 400,000,000 Coca-Cola shares, accounting for about 9.3% of the company’s outstanding shares. Based on the current dividend rate (raised in February 2026 to $0.53 per share per quarter, or $2.12 annualized), annual dividend income is about $848 million. That amount is about 65% of the original cost.
Coca-Cola has raised its dividend for 64 consecutive years. Buffett mentioned the investment in his 2022 shareholder letter, saying that what he and Munger mainly needed to do was cash the quarterly dividend checks, and that the dividend had continued to grow from about $75 million in 1994. The current market value fluctuates with the stock price, and recent reports place it in the range of about $32 billion to $37 billion.
Original sources:
Title: Warren Buffett Paid About $1.3 Billion for Berkshire's Coca-Cola Shares. They're Now Worth About $37 Billion. Publisher: The Motley Fool Publication date: 2026-10-16 URL: https://www.fool.com/investing/2026/10/16/warren-buffett-paid-about-usd1-3-billion-for-berkshire-s-coca-cola-shares-they-re-now-worth-about-usd37-billion/ Source nature: financial media report Verification status: key paragraphs read in full for this article Supporting content: cost of about $1.3 billion, 400 million shares, annual dividend of about $848 million, purchase completed in 1994
Title: Who Owns Coca-Cola? Publisher: FourWeekMBA Publication date: 2026-10-18 URL: https://fourweekmba.com/who-owns-coca-cola/ Source nature: company ownership analysis Verification status: key paragraphs read in full for this article Supporting content: as of December 31, 2025, held 400 million shares, about 9.29%
Title: Berkshire Hathaway’s 2022 Shareholder Letter (related citation) Publisher: Berkshire Hathaway / media paraphrase Publication date: 2023 (letter) URL: related public shareholder letter Source nature: company shareholder letter Verification status: checked via media citation Supporting content: Buffett mentioned jointly holding and cashing the dividends with Munger
ABAB AI Insight
This position is one of Berkshire’s classic long-term holdings. The original cost is fixed, while dividends have increased as the company has raised them for many years, creating a high cost yield. The publicly available data currently mainly come from company disclosures and media calculations, and do not involve forecasts of future dividend growth or stock prices.
The buying period (1988-1994) was completed in batches, ultimately forming the current share count. The publicly stated investment logic centers on business understanding, durable competitive advantages, and a margin of safety between the purchase price and intrinsic value. The relationship between the current annual dividend and cost is directly calculated from Coca-Cola’s latest dividend policy and Berkshire’s shareholding quantity.
Future points to watch include whether Coca-Cola continues to raise its dividend, whether Berkshire maintains its share count, and changes in the position’s weight within the overall equity portfolio.
ABAB News · Law of cognition
Cost yield is determined by historical purchase cost and current dividends, and differs from current market price yield.
A long-held position that has not been sold has dividend cash flow independent of short-term market-value fluctuations.
Continuous dividend increases can keep raising the annual cash return on the original investment, but only if the company continues to implement that policy.