Warren Buffett Reduces Berkshire Hathaway's Apple Stake, Potentially Impacting Stock Market

Written on 04/08/2024
9News

Billionaire Warren Buffett has reduced Berkshire Hathaway's significant Apple holdings, a move that may unsettle the stock market due to Buffett's influential reputation and the recent lack of positive financial news.

Only two years ago, Buffett had identified Apple as one of the four giants of his conglomerate's business, alongside wholly-owned entities such as Berkshire insurance, utilities, and BNSF railroad.

This shift surprised investors who believed Buffett might retain his Apple shares indefinitely, similar to his long-term holdings in Coca-Cola and American Express acquired decades ago.



However, he has trimmed the Apple stake over the past year and has recently also sold off some of his stock in Bank of America and Chinese EV maker BYD while doing very little buying.
As a result, Buffett is now sitting on nearly US$277 billion ($424 billion) in cash, up from what was already a record $294 billion just three months earlier.
"This could alarm the markets especially given the news from last week" with weak tech earnings, a disappointing jobs report and uncertainty about the future of interest rates, Edward Jones analyst Jim Shanahan said.