Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway halves stake in Apple to $84 billion

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway sold more than half of its Apple stake—390 million shares worth $90.1 billion—in the past two quarters, the company said. 

In its earnings filing for the second quarter, Hathaway said that its holding in the iPhone maker was valued at $84.2 billion, down from $174.3 billion it held at the end of the previous fiscal year ended 31 December 2023. 

At the end of the quarter to March, the investor held Apple shares worth $135.4 billion, showing that it had sold $38.9 billion worth of Apple stocks in that quarter. 

“Unless something dramatically happens that really changes capital allocation strategy, we will have Apple as our largest investment,” Buffett said at the company’s annual meeting in May. 

Apple continues to remain Berkshire Hathaway’s biggest investment. 

The Omaha, Nebraska-based firm has also sold $6.3 billion shares of Bank of America Corp. this quarter. The earnings report showed about 72% of Berkshire Hathaway’s aggregate fair value was concentrated in five firms – American Express Co. ($35.1 billion), Apple Inc. ($84.2 billion), Bank of America Corp. ($41.1 billion), The Coca-Cola Co. ($25.5 billion), and Chevron Corp. ($18.6 billion). 

Buffett first disclosed the stake in Apple in 2016, and since then, the Cupertino-based tech giant’s shares have surged by 900%, delivering a massive profit to Berkshire.

Berkshire’s quarterly results were released on Friday amid a weak jobs report in the US and Fed’s reluctance to cut interest rates. The slump in the US economy after several quarters of impressive rise has left economists wondering if the country is on the brink of a recession. 

Economists from the Goldman Sachs Group have increased the probability of a recession in the US in the next year to 25% from 15% earlier. 

However, experts argue that Buffett’s move is not about his trust in Apple’s future or the US economy but merely about balancing its holdings. 

Some analysts said Buffett’s reduction of his Apple stake is about risk management, and that if he had concerns about Apple’s long-term viability, he would have exited the stock