Berkshire Hathaway revealed a US$4.3 billion stake in Google parent Alphabet and further reduced its stake in Apple, detailing its equity portfolio for the last time before Warren Buffett ends his 60-year run as chief executive officer.
In a filing on Friday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Berkshire said it owned 17.85 million Alphabet shares as of September 30.
Berkshire cut its Apple stake to 238.2 million shares from 280 million in the third quarter, and has sold nearly three-quarters of the more than 900 million shares it once held. Apple remained Berkshire’s largest stock holding, at US$60.7 billion.
The filing listed Berkshire’s US-listed stock holdings as of September 30, which comprised most of the conglomerate’s US$283.2 billion equity portfolio.
Berkshire’s investment in Alphabet, which became its tenth-largest US stock holding, is surprising given Mr Buffett’s usual value-investing style and aversion to technology companies.
Mr Buffett considers Apple, which makes the iPhone, more of a consumer products company.
It is not clear whether Buffett, his portfolio managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, or CEO-designate Greg Abel make specific purchases, though Mr Buffett normally makes larger investments.
At Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting in 2019, Mr Buffett and late vice-chairman Charlie Munger lamented not investing in Google sooner.
Mr Buffett said Google’s advertising model bore similarities to what was working for Berkshire’s Geico car insurance unit.
“We screwed up,” Mr Munger said. “He’s saying we blew it,” Mr Buffett responded.
Alphabet shares rose 1.7 per cent in after-hours trading. Stock prices often rise when Berkshire reveals new stakes, reflecting what investors view as Mr Buffett’s seal of approval.
Berkshire bought US$6.4 billion of stocks and sold US$12.5 billion between July and September, the twelfth straight quarter it was a net seller of stocks, while cash grew to a record US$381.7 billion.
Apple may have accounted for three-quarters or more of the sales.
Google ad tech antitrust trial
A final plea by Alphabet’s Google to avoid a breakup of its advertising technology business in a US court has been moved to November 21, the court said.
Closing arguments for the Google trial were previously scheduled for Wednesday, according to a notice from US District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia.
Brinkema ruled in April that the company holds two illegal ad tech monopolies, and she is now considering what Google must do to restore competition.
The Department of Justice and a coalition of states have asked the judge to make Google sell its ad exchange, AdX, where online publishers pay Google a 20 per cent fee to sell ads in auctions that happen instantly when users load websites.
– Reuters
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