Berkshire Hathaway is worth $280 billion after cutting Apple stake

Berkshire Hathaway’s cash pile has grown to nearly $280 billion.
The conglomerate sold nearly half of its massive stake in Apple last quarter.
Warren Buffett, 93, plans to donate most of his fortune to charity after his death.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has a lot of cash on hand after repeatedly reducing its stake in Apple.

Berkshire Hathaway made the shock decision to cut its stake in Apple, still the company’s largest stock, by almost 50% last quarter.

That means the Omaha-based conglomerate is not basking in a record-high cash pile of $276.9 billion, the company said in a financial report released Saturday.

Buffett, 93, has been on a sell-off recently.

He initially cut Berkshire Hathaway’s stake in Apple by 13% in the first quarter, suggesting tax considerations were the reason and noting that selling “a little bit of Apple” could prove beneficial for Berkshire shareholders in the long run.

Berkshire Hathaway also trimmed its stake in Bank of America, its largest after Apple. The company also largely held off on new acquisitions in the second quarter.

Buffett, who is one of the richest billionaires in the world, recently announced that he intends to distribute his estimated $130 billion fortune to charity after his death.

“It should be used to help people who are less fortunate than we are,” Buffett said at the time.