Berkshire, Buffett More Than Double Stake in Apple

By Nicole Friedman and Joshua Jamerson 

Warren Buffett said his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. more than doubled its stake in Apple Inc. since the start of the new year, making the Silicon Valley giant one of Berkshire's biggest equity holdings.

Berkshire's recent investment has brought Mr. Buffett's personal buying in Apple to about 123 million shares, and one of Berkshire's portfolio managers holds about 10 million; Berkshire owned about 57 million shares at the end of 2016. Mr. Buffett made the comments Monday morning on CNBC.

The recent buying would bring the value of Berkshire's stake in Apple to roughly $18 billion.

The comments come after the billionaire investor released his widely read letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders on Saturday, in which he reasserted his belief in his own ability to pick winners and losers. Mr. Buffett has traditionally shied away from tech stocks, saying that he doesn't understand the business, but he says Apple is a consumer product that he understands.

"People have this incredible stickiness with the product," Mr. Buffett said of the iPhone. Mr. Buffett said while that doesn't mean Apple is shielded from disruption by new technology, "the continuity of the product is huge and the degree to which their lives center around it is huge. And that's a really nice franchise to have in a consumer product."

Apple shares rose 0.4% to $137.2 in premarket trading.

Write to Nicole Friedman at [e-mail] and Joshua Jamerson at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 27, 2017 08:05 ET (13:05 GMT)

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