Warren Buffett offered a strong vote of confidence in Japan’s top trading houses. The 94-year-old investing icon said he has no plans to sell Berkshire’s stakes in Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, and Sumitomo, collectively known as the “sogo shosha”.
“In the next 50 years, we won’t give a thought to selling those,” Buffett told shareholders in Omaha. “We’ve been treated extremely well by the five companies…Our main activity is just to cheer and clap.”
Berkshire’s investments in the trading firms stood at $23.5 billion by the end of 2024, with ownership rising to as much as 9.8% in each. These companies operate across a wide swath of sectors — from commodities and shipping to food and steel — acting as key intermediaries in Japan’s real economy.
Buffett, who has long favored businesses he understands deeply, likened the diversified Japanese firms to Berkshire itself. The investments, first revealed on Buffett’s 90th birthday in 2020, are now core to Berkshire’s growing international portfolio.