NEW YORK, Nov 7 — Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc yesterday said third quarter net income tripled, as rising stock markets boosted its investment holdings and a quiet hurricane season contributed to higher insurance profit.

Results were announced three days after Buffett revealed the biggest acquisition in his 44 years running Berkshire, a US$26 billion (RM91 billion) takeover of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. Berkshire had already owned 23 per cent of the nation's second-largest railroad operator.

Third-quarter net income for Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire rose to US$3.24 billion from US$1.06 billion a year earlier.

Excluding investments, operating profit fell less than 1 per cent to US$2.06 billion from US$2.07 billion.

Revenue rose 7 per cent to US$29.9 billion.

Berkshire benefited as rising stock markets boosted the value of its investments in companies such as Coca-Cola Co, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Wells Fargo & Co.

Results included US$1.13 billion of derivatives gains, mainly from contracts related to junk bond credit quality and to a lesser extent from the performance of four stock market indexes in the United States, Europe and Japan.

Rising stocks helped boost Berkshire's book value to US$126.07 billion, up 10 per cent from three months earlier and 15 per cent from year end.

Buffett often touts book value, which reflects assets minus liabilities, as a good gauge of Berkshire's health.

Insurance, which typically generates half of Berkshire's results, benefited from the quietest Atlantic hurricane season in more than a decade. Only a single named storm, Claudette, made US landfall. — Reuters