Warren Buffett's conglomerate has quickly been spinning off is stake in Apple over the past year
Within Berkshire Hathaway $BRK.B’s second-quarter earnings report was a telling stat: $84.2 billion. That number — the Warren Buffett-led conglomerate’s stake in Apple $AAPL — was noticeably a lot less than the $174.3 billion stake it had in the tech giant at the start of this year — 50% less to be exact.
The big selloff continues a trend for Berkshire Hathaway. The company has reduced its stake in Apple for three consecutive quarters now, and its latest move could send ripples through the stock market.
But earlier this year during a question-and-answer session at Berkshire’s annual shareholder conference, Buffett said that it’s “extremely likely” that Apple remains Berkshire’s largest common stock holding — and that it will stay that way unless something dramatic happens.
“Unless something really extraordinary happens, we will own Apple, and American Express, and Coca-Cola $KO when Greg takes over this place,” the 93-year-old Buffett said at the time, referring to Greg Abel, his handpicked successor.
Last week, Apple reported sales of nearly $86 billion for the quarter that ended on June 29, higher than the $84.4 billion forecasted by analysts polled by FactSet. Investors are most interested in Apple’s AI strategy, which the company revealed at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Apple shares, which lagged at the start of the year, jumped over 12% since the announcement of its suite of AI tools, called Apple Intelligence.
Rocio Fabbro and Laura Bratton contributed to this article.
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