Buffett said his businesses had experienced an “extreme” period where consumers splurged, which led to many managers at his subsidiaries overestimating demand for certain products.<\/p>\n

“It was just a question of getting goods to deliver. People bought, and they didn’t wait for sales. If you couldn’t sell them one thing, they would put another thing in their backlog,” Buffett said.<\/p>\n

The 92-year-old investing icon said he expects to see an earnings decline for many of his businesses in light of an economic slowdown.<\/p>\n

“In the general economy, the feedback we get is that, I would say, perhaps the majority of our businesses will actually report lower earnings this year than last year,” he said.<\/p>\n

Still, Buffett thinks Berkshire is positioned well in terms of its investment income as higher interest rates are earning the conglomerate a substantial return. Berkshire owned about $130 billion in cash and Treasury bills at the end of the first quarter.<\/p>\n