Copyright © BusinessAMBE 2023
This weekend, investment guru
In the news: Buffett calls the iPhone "the most amazing product of all time," but holds fewer shares.
- It didn't go unnoticed in
Omaha : Berkshire retains$135.4 billion inApple shares after this first quarter. At the end of last year, the group still held$174.3 billion in shares, down 13 percent. Buffett also already cut his holdings of the tech giant in 2023. -
Still, he remains firmly convinced of
Apple 's enormous potential. "Look how wedded consumers are to their iPhones. CEOTim Cook is the suitable successor toSteve Jobs , in my opinion." -
The sale of Buffett's
Apple shares would therefore be purely tax-related, he seemed to hint at that. Buffett does not care about tougher iPhone sales inChina or the cancellation ofApple 's self-driving car.Apple remains Berkshire's largest investment. -
It is also notable that Buffett continues to think American. He also remains a fan of American Express and Coca-Cola. And auto insurer Geico, which is wholly owned by
Berkshire Hathaway , delivered double the company's profit from last year. -
Then again, Buffett sold his shares in
Paramount Global , at a loss. That entertainment company is currently in dire straits, with a fired CEO and several takeover bids on the table.
Buffett is not buying a company for now
To follow: Buffett continues to sit on a pile of money that he is doing nothing with.
- Thanks in part to Geico's strong performance,
Berkshire Hathaway managed to post a huge profit. It reported revenue of$2.6 billion this quarter. In the same period last year, that was more than half as much:$911 million . -
Berkshire has never had so much cash. In total, the company now owns
$189 billion , or about175 billion euros . Buffett himself is not bothered, making the case that his cash could reach$200 billion by the next quarter. The investor says he has a hard time finding companies to acquire. But in these times of geopolitical crisis and high inflation in theU.S. , he prefers to sit on his money. -
Analysts say you can extend that to Buffett's stock trading.
Bill Smead , investor atSmead Capital Management is clear to news agency Bloomberg: "He is unlikely to tap that capital unless he has the opportunity to buy an entire company or when there is a big sale in the market, of 30 percent or more."
In the margin: A gripping tribute to
Charlie Munger , Buffett's business partner, died last November. Accordingly, the annual meeting opened with a tribute from Buffett to Munger. "We had a lot of fun with things that failed. Because then we had to work very hard, work to get ourselves out of trouble," he recounted.-
The meeting was co-chaired by
Greg Abel , Buffett's doomed successor. Buffett spoke remarkably often in his speech about his own mortality, clarifying that Abel will take over from him when he can no longer do so.-
There was even a funny but tender moment:
Warren Buffett inadvertently calledAbel "Charlie " for a moment.
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There was even a funny but tender moment:
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