Warren Buffett Sells Nearly Half of Berkshire’s Stake in Apple

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is set to sell nearly 50% of its stake in Apple in the second quarter of 2024, according to documents released today, after the company already reduced its stake by about 13% in the first quarter. Berkshire Hathaway has been rapidly building its cash reserves in recent months, reducing positions in some of its top holdings.

When Berkshire Hathaway initially sold 13% of its Apple stake in Q1 2024, they suggested the move was primarily for tax reasons during the earnings call. Warren Buffett also assured investors that Apple would remain their largest holding unless “something dramatic happens that really changes the allocation of capital.” They also reduced their position by about 1% in Q4 2023.

But this much larger sale seems to suggest a form of uncertainty surrounding Apple and the broader market. Berkshire Hathaway’s cash reserves now total $277 billion, up $88 billion from the previous quarter. At one point, Berkshire Hathaway’s stake in AAPL represented about half of the entire portfolio.

Before the latest sale, the company owned about 789 million shares of AAPL. It now owns about 400 million. Its stake in Apple now amounts to about 2.6% of the company, currently worth $84.2 billion, up from $135.4 billion in the previous quarter. At the end of 2023, the company owned 905 million shares of Apple, which would be worth $198.9 billion at today’s prices.

During Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting in May, Apple CEO Tim Cook, shortly after the initial sale of the company, spoke about it, stating that “it’s an honor to have them as a shareholder.”