Selling Apple shares was ‘probably a mistake’ and Munger knew it: Buffett

Warren Buffett conceded that promoting some shares of Apple (AAPL) in Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio final 12 months was seemingly a mistake, with the corporate remaining a tech chief offering large utility to customers around the globe. 

“The brand and the product, it’s an incredible product. It’s a huge, huge bargain to people. I mean the part it plays in their lives is huge. I mean, I use it as a phone but I’m probably the only guy in the country,” the famed worth investor stated of Apple throughout Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting on Saturday. “It is indispensable to people.” 

“I sold some stock last year, although our shareholders still saw their shares go up because we repurchased shares,” he added. “But that was probably a mistake.”

“Charlie in his usual low-key way he let me know that he thought it was a mistake too, didn’t you Charlie?” Buffett requested his long-time business partner and friend, who sat by his facet through the assembly. Charlie Munger replied: “Yes.”

Berkshire owned 907,559,761 shares of Apple as of the tip of December for a complete market worth of $120.Four billion. That gave Berkshire 5.4% possession within the agency. By distinction, the agency spent simply $31 billion accumulating this stake since late 2016.

That holding was the biggest by market cap within the Berkshire portfolio, comprising 44% of its disclosed property as of the tip of final 12 months, based on Bloomberg information. And that got here even after the agency pocketed $11 billion after promoting a small portion of its place in 2020.

“It’s an extraordinary business. But I do want to emphasize that in his own way, it’s a different way, but Tim Cook … he’s handled that business so well,” Buffett added of Apple’s CEO. “He couldn’t do what Steve Jobs obviously could do in terms of creation. But Steve Jobs I don’t think really could do what Tim Cook has done in many respects.” 

Story continues

Since starting to construct Berkshire’s stake in Apple in 2016, Buffett has used a number of events to tout the corporate. In his latest annual letter to shareholders, Buffett named Apple as probably the most worthwhile property for Berkshire alongside the agency’s insurance coverage operation and BNSF Railway, thanks partly to its share repurchases that helped enhance Berkshire’s possession stake with out further price to the corporate. 

At the beginning of the 2021 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder assembly, Buffett additionally introduced a slide with the 20 Most worthy firms on the planet by market capitalization for instance of America’s power in producing high-value companies. Apple topped the record with a valuation of greater than $2 trillion. 

Shares of Apple surged 81% in 2020, outperforming the opposite mega-cap tech shares together with Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Facebook (FB). Shares have edged decrease by about 0.9%, however not too long ago set an all-time excessive in late March. 

—

Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @emily_mcck

Read extra on Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway