Warren Buffett speaks during the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 3, 2025.
CNBC
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway announced Thursday it reached a deal to buy Occidental Petroleum’s petrochemical unit, OxyChem, for $9.7 billion in cash.
The deal marks Berkshire’s largest since 2022, when it paid $11.6 billion for insurer Alleghany. It also comes at a time in which the conglomerate is sitting on $344 billion in cash, a record for the company.
Shares of Occidental rose 1.3% in premarket trading Thursday.
Berkshire is already a major investor in Occidental, holding a 28.2% stake as of the end of June. Buffett — who is 95 and stepping down as CEO at the end of the year — has said he wouldn’t take complete control of the oil company.
OxyChem manufactures water treatment, healthcare and other commercial chemicals. Occidental said it will use $6.5 billion of the proceeds to pay down debt.
“We look forward to welcoming OxyChem as an operating subsidiary within Berkshire,” said Greg Abel, Vice Chairman of Non-Insurance Operations at Berkshire, in a press release. Abel, who will replace Buffett as CEO of Berkshire in 2026, added that Occidental CEO Vicki Hollub is showing her “commitment to Occidental’s long-term financial stability, as demonstrated by their plan to use proceeds to reinforce the company’s balance sheet.”
The last time Berkshire did a deal in the chemical space was in 2011, buying Lubrizol for a similar $10 billion figure.
Both companies expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the transaction earlier this week.
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