Berkshire Hathaway, the investment company founded and run by legendary investor Warren Buffett, has become the owner of Apple shares worth $177 billion after the latest rally in the US stock market, according to Markets Insider.
The development came after the value of Apple shares once again exceeded the $3 trillion mark on Wednesday amid a steady rally in US tech stocks since the second half of November.
Berkshire owns approximately 916 million shares of Apple, or 5.9% of the technology giant founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Apple shares are up nearly 50% year-to-date and now trade at $193, less than 3% below their all-time high.
Since the end of September alone, the value of Apple shares has increased by 13%, and the value of Berkshire’s stake in the company has increased by $20 billion since then.
The total stake of Buffett’s company in Apple is 177 billion dollars and is now worth more than the market capitalization of Nike, Disney, Comcast, Pfizer, Wells Fargo, Verizon, IBM and other famous American companies.
Why Apple is an unusual bet for Warren Buffett
Buffett’s biggest bet to date is Apple, Berkshire’s roughly $350 billion stock in its portfolio. In other words, more than half of the total value of the investment company’s portfolio is in Apple shares.
The situation is all the more atypical, as Buffett is known for only buying shares of companies in industries he knows, and the technology sector is not one of them. The legendary investor avoided investing in technology companies for most of his career.
But he said he made an exception for Apple after realizing how strong its brand is and how important its devices are to the company’s customers.
Buffett also said Apple has the best business model of any of Berkshire’s most-held companies and praised Tim Cook as an exceptional manager.
As for the investment company, Berkshire Hathaway currently has a market capitalization of $773.28 billion. Otherwise, it is the seventh most valuable company listed on the US stock market, behind Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet (the parent company of Google), Amazon, Nvidia and Meta.
Source: Hot News
Lori Barajas is an accomplished journalist, known for her insightful and thought-provoking writing on economy. She currently works as a writer at 247 news reel. With a passion for understanding the economy, Lori’s writing delves deep into the financial issues that matter most, providing readers with a unique perspective on current events.