Bloomberg reported that this increase in liquidity at the company, which is based in Omaha, Nebraska, came as its billionaire president, Warren Buffett, continued to refrain from making major acquisitions, while reducing some of his most important equity stakes.
Berkshire Hathaway revealed in its statement on Saturday that it had reduced its stake in…AppleOnce again, Berkshire also sold shares in Bank of America for several billion dollars.
The value of the company’s stake in the iPhone maker was $69.9 billion at the end of the third quarter, down from $84.2 billion in the second quarter, which indicates that the company reduced its stake by about 25 percent, according to Bloomberg.
According to Reuters, Berkshire sold 100 million shares in Apple in the third quarter, bringing the number of its shares down to approximately 300 million.
And it was “BerkshireIt first disclosed its Apple stake in 2016 and spent $31.1 billion for the 908 million Apple shares it held until the end of 2021.
During the third quarter, Berkshire was a net seller of stock, reporting net stock sales of $34.6 billion in the three months through September.
Berkshire bought shares worth $1.5 billion in the third quarter, but did not buy back any of its shares that it had previously sold, indicating that Buffett himself does not view his company’s shares as a profitable deal.
Bloomberg reported that Berkshire struggled to find ways to deploy its cash pile, as Buffett found market prices too high to find attractive deals.
At its annual shareholder meeting last May, Buffett, 94, said Berkshire was in no rush to spend “unless we think we’re doing something that has very little risk and can make us a lot of money.”
Berkshire shares have risen 25 percent this year, boosting its market value to $974.3 billion. Its market capitalization exceeded $1 trillion for the first time on August 28.
According to the statement issued today, Berkshire’s operating profits in the third quarter decreased by 6 percent from the previous year, to $10.09 billion, which is largely due to an increase in insurance liabilities due to several factors, including Hurricane Helen.
Buffett has led Berkshire since 1965, and it is expected that leadership of the company will pass after him to Vice President Greg Appel (62 years old).
