In Berkshire Hathaway's third-quarter earnings report, Warren Buffett revealed that his company bought back $9 billion of its own stock, nearly doubling the record buyback from the second quarter.

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Berkshire repurchased more than $2.5 billion in Class A shares and about $6.7 billion in Class B stock during the third quarter. This blew away the UBS estimate for a total quarterly buyback of just $3.2 billion, reported CNBC International.

The total buybacks made by Berkshire now stands at $15.7 billion for 2020.

During the second quarter also, the conglomerate repurchased $5.1 billion worth in stock in May and June. It had bought more than $4.6 billion of its Class B stock and about $486.6 million in Class A shares.

The company's shares climbed 20 percent in the third quarter, surpassing the 8.5 percent gain made by the S&P 500 index during the same period.

Buffett's repurchase spree comes at a very tough time amidst beaten-up operations as the global economy is still struggling to recover from the damages due to the lockdown.

These buybacks come at a time when the company is already suffering from operations crisis. According to CNBC International, Berkshire's operating earnings came in at $5.478 billion, down more than 30 percent from the year-earlier period. But the company’s net earnings — which account for Berkshire’s big investments in the public market like Apple — skyrocketed more than 82 percent on a year-over-year basis to $30.137 billion.

In its annual letter released earlier this year, Buffett said that he and Charlie Munger would only repurchase a stock if they thought it was selling for less than its worth or they have ample cash.

“When the conditions are right, it should also be obvious to repurchase shares and there shouldn’t be the slightest taint to it any more than there is to dividends,” he said.

Despite the record buybacks this year, Berkshire Hathaway still has a cash pile of $145.7 billion at the end of the third quarter.