NetJets: Losses spike at Warren Buffett’s private jet company
Losses at the UK arm of NetJets, the private jet company owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway more than doubled during its latest financial year, it has been revealed.
The division has posted a pre-tax loss of $11.2m (£8.4m) for 2024, new accounts filed with Companies House show.
The total comes after NetJets UK also lost $4.4m in 2023.
The UK arm has not posted a pre-tax loss since the $3.3m it achieved in 2022.
However, the latest accounts also show that NetJets’ turnover increased in 2024 from $110.3m to $112.2m.
NetJets’ European turnover rose from $94.2m to $97.6m in the year while sales for its second-largest market, North America, grew from $7.2m to $8.2m.
However, its turnover in Asia fell from $6.6m to $4.8m and from $1.5m to $450,854 in Oceania.
NetJets UK’s parent company in this country, NetJets Management, also looks after operating businesses in Portugal, France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
For the same financial year, NetJets Management’s turnover increased from $31.7m to $40.6m.
Its pre-tax profit also rose from $1.6m to $4.5m.
NetJets’ cyber attack reveals Elon Musk’s strict in-flight preferences
NetJets was founded in 1964 and acquired by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway in 1998.
In April this year, it was reported that the company was hit by a cyber attack where “a limited amount of data for a small number of owners” was obtained by a hacker.
As part of the leak, details about Elon Musk’s private jet preferences were made public – including very strict in-flight rules.
It was announced in May that Warren Buffett is set to step down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of the year.
He will be succeeded by Greg Abel, chair of Berkshire Hathaway Energy.
At the time, Warren Buffett said: “I have no intention – zero – of selling one share of Berkshire Hathaway. I will give it away eventually.
“The decision to keep every share is an economic decision because I think the prospects of Berkshire will be better under Greg’s management than mine.”
The results for NetJets come after CityAM reported recently that the UK arm of private jet charter company VistaJet had fallen into the red despite its revenue climbing closer to the £100m mark.
For 2024, the division has reported a pre-tax loss of £5.7m, having made a pre-tax profit of £9.2m in the prior 12 months.
VistaJet’s UK revenue also rose from £90.9m to £93.4m over the same period.
VistaJet was founded by Swiss billionaire Thomas Flohr in 2004.