Berkshire Hathaway Inc. vs Canon Inc.: Strategic Comparison

This in-depth comparison examines Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Canon Inc. across revenue, market value, business model, competitive positioning, and long-term growth strategy. Whether you are researching Berkshire Hathaway Inc. on its own, evaluating Canon Inc., or weighing the two companies side by side, the breakdown below highlights where each company leads and where the gap between Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Canon Inc. is widest.

On the headline numbers, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. reports annual revenue of $371.4B against ~$31B for Canon Inc., while their respective market capitalizations stand at $1.07T and $25.6B. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is headquartered in United States and Canon Inc. in Japan, and those different home markets shape how each company competes.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: Berkshire Hathaway does not make a single product under its own name. It owns insurers (GEICO, General Re, National Indemnity, Alleghany), the BNSF railroad, Berkshire Hathaway Energy's regulated utilities and pipelines, manufacturers such as Precision Castparts, Lubrizol, Marmon and OxyChem, distributors such as McLane and Pilot, and consumer businesses such as See's Candies and Dairy Queen. On top of that sits an equity portfolio worth $297.8 billion at the end of 2025, whose five largest positions, American Express, Apple, Bank of America, Coca-Cola and Chevron, accounted for 65% of its value. About 387,800 people worked for Berkshire's businesses at the end of 2025, roughly 80% of them in the United States.

Canon Inc.: Canon is a diversified Japanese manufacturer organized into four business units. Printing (office multifunction devices, laser and inkjet printers, production presses) is the largest. Imaging includes EOS cameras, RF lenses, cinema cameras and Axis network cameras. Medical, built on the 2016 purchase of Toshiba Medical Systems, makes CT, MRI, ultrasound and X-ray equipment. Industrial supplies semiconductor and flat-panel lithography tools and Canon Tokki OLED deposition systems. The group had 321 consolidated subsidiaries and 165,547 employees at the end of 2025, and its shares trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under code 7751.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Canon Inc. pursue distinct approaches to generating revenue, and understanding how each company operates is the foundation of any fair comparison between Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Canon Inc..

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. business model: Berkshire's business model is capital allocation on top of a decentralized group of operating companies. Subsidiary managers run their own businesses, with no corporate budget submissions and no committee structure at headquarters, and send surplus cash to Omaha. The chief executive then decides where it goes: into existing operations, new acquisitions such as the $9.7 billion purchase of OxyChem completed in January 2026, marketable equities, or Berkshire stock when it trades below estimated intrinsic value. Insurance is the core. Policyholder money held before claims are paid, which Berkshire calls float, reached $176 billion at the end of 2025, and the group has earned a pre-tax underwriting profit in each of the three years to 2025, so that float has cost less than nothing. Berkshire has not paid a dividend since 1967, which is why retained earnings and float, rather than outside capital, fund almost everything it buys.

Canon Inc. business model: Canon designs, builds and sells hardware, then earns recurring revenue from consumables, service contracts and software on the installed base. In 2025 the Printing Business Unit produced ~$16.7 billion (¥2,494.4 billion) of sales (54%), split between office multifunction devices (~$7.13 billion (¥1,063.7 billion)), prosumer laser and inkjet printers (~$6.66 billion (¥993.4 billion)) and production presses (~$2.93 billion (¥437.3 billion)); toner, ink and maintenance on machines already in the field account for much of that income. Imaging (~$7.07 billion (¥1,054.9 billion), 23%) covers EOS cameras and lenses (~$4.19 billion (¥625.5 billion)) plus network cameras and video software from Axis and Milestone (~$2.88 billion (¥429.4 billion)). Medical (~$3.89 billion (¥580.6 billion), 13%) sells CT, MRI, ultrasound and X-ray systems and service. Industrial (~$2.42 billion (¥361.1 billion), 8%) sells semiconductor and flat-panel lithography tools, Canon Tokki OLED deposition systems and sputtering equipment. Canon sells through regional companies such as Canon U.S.A., Canon Europe and Canon Marketing Japan, and spent ~$2.27 billion (¥339.3 billion), about 7.3% of sales, on R&D in 2025.

The durability of a company's moat often decides long-term winners. Here is how the competitive advantages of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. stack up against those of Canon Inc..

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. competitive advantage: Berkshire's advantages are permanent capital, a balance sheet that stays liquid by design, and a reputation that brings sellers to it. It held $369.0 billion of cash, cash equivalents and Treasury Bills in its insurance and other businesses at the end of 2025 and carries limited debt, which is why it could supply capital to Goldman Sachs, General Electric and other companies during the 2008 crisis on terms no one else was offering. Owners of private businesses who care where their companies end up sell to Berkshire for the same reason: Bell Laboratories came to Berkshire in 2025 because its chief executive wrote to Buffett on behalf of the founder's daughters. Subsidiary managers also keep real autonomy, with no corporate budgets to submit and no quarterly earnings pressure.

Canon Inc. competitive advantage: Canon's edge is vertical integration in optics and imaging. It designs its own lenses, CMOS image sensors, print engines and image-processing chips, and builds much of its own production equipment. That depth shows in its patent output (seventh in U.S. patent grants in 2025 and in the top 10 for 42 straight years, according to IFI Claims) and in a camera business that has held the No. 1 interchangeable-lens share for 23 consecutive years. In printing, a large installed base of office devices produces recurring toner and service revenue that new entrants cannot easily copy.

Future prospects matter as much as current results. The growth strategies below explain how Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Canon Inc. each plan to expand from here.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. growth strategy: Berkshire's size limits what can move its results, so growth comes from large purchases, reinvestment inside existing businesses and buying back its own stock. Buffett described the 2009 BNSF agreement, a $34 billion investment in the railroad, as an all-in wager on the economic future of the United States. The 2025 and 2026 examples are smaller: a $9.7 billion purchase of Occidental's chemicals business, OxyChem, and the family-owned pest-control manufacturer Bell Laboratories. Abel has said Berkshire will buy productive businesses in preference to holding Treasuries, but will not stretch on price, which is why cash and Treasury holdings still exceeded $370 billion at the end of 2025 and no shares were repurchased that year. Berkshire also adds to listed holdings when prices suit it, paying $16.9 billion for equity securities during 2025.

Canon Inc. growth strategy: Phase VII sets 2030 sales targets for each unit: Printing ~$18.8 billion (¥2.8 trillion) (about 2% a year), Imaging ~$8.98 billion (¥1.34 trillion) (5%), Medical ~$5.03 billion (¥750 billion) (5%) and Industrial ~$4.02 billion (¥600 billion) (10%). Growth products named in the plan are nanoimprint lithography, photon-counting CT and industrial printing equipment. Canon merged Canon Medical Systems' operations into Canon Inc. on April 1, 2026, is taking Canon Electronics private to build a space business worth ~$134 million (¥20 billion) or more in sales by 2030, and wants emerging markets such as India, Indonesia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America to rise from 10% to 15% of sales. In Printing it plans to cut production staff by 30% and factory space by 40% by 2028 and to outsource hardware that needs no special technology.

A closer look at the financial trajectory of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Canon Inc. rounds out the comparison.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: Berkshire reported 2025 revenue of $371.444 billion, operating earnings of $44.486 billion (down from $47.437 billion in 2024 and above the five-year average of about $37.5 billion), and net earnings attributable to shareholders of $66.968 billion. GAAP net earnings swing with the equity portfolio: 2025 included $30.737 billion of after-tax investment gains and $8.255 billion of after-tax impairments on Kraft Heinz and Occidental. The businesses produced $46 billion of net cash from operating activities. Insurance earned $9.460 billion of pre-tax underwriting profit, with GEICO contributing $6.824 billion, and insurance float grew to $176 billion from $171 billion a year earlier. Shareholders' equity ended 2025 at $717.4 billion, up $68.1 billion, and the insurance and other businesses held $369.0 billion of cash, cash equivalents and US Treasury Bills. Berkshire repurchased no stock in 2025 and has paid no dividend since 1967.

Canon Inc.: Canon's sales fell from ~$27.3 billion (¥4,080.0 billion) in 2017, the first full year with Toshiba Medical, to ~$21.2 billion (¥3,160.2 billion) in 2020 as cameras and office printing shrank and the pandemic hit. They have grown every year since, reaching a record ~$31 billion (¥4,624.7 billion) in 2025 (+2.5%). Operating profit was ~$3.05 billion (¥455.4 billion) in 2025, a 9.8% margin, up from ~$1.87 billion (¥279.8 billion) in 2024, when a ~$1.11 billion (¥165.1 billion) goodwill impairment on the medical business cut net income to ~$1.07 billion (¥160.0 billion). Net income attributable to Canon Inc. more than doubled to ~$2.23 billion (¥332.1 billion) and EPS rose to ¥367.48. Canon paid a ¥160 dividend (42.9% payout), generated ~$1.6 billion (¥238.5 billion) of free cash flow and ended 2025 with ~$6.34 billion (¥946.2 billion) of interest-bearing debt, up from ~$4.45 billion (¥663.5 billion). By region, the Americas supplied 32% of 2025 sales, Europe 26%, Japan 21% and Asia and Oceania 21%. In July 2026, after record second-quarter sales, Canon guided to ~$32.2 billion (¥4,800.0 billion) of 2026 sales and ~$3.12 billion (¥465.0 billion) of operating profit.