Billionaire stock picker Warren Buffett increases Apple shares and sharply cuts IBM holdings
Buffett cuts stake in IBM by 32 per cent while increasing position in Apple by 3 per cent
Warren Buffett continued to trim a once-major investment in International Business Machines Corp while adding to newer holding Apple in the third quarter.
The billionaire investor’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc lowered its IBM stake by about a third to 37 million shares as of September 30, when it was valued at about US$5.4 billion, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday. Berkshire boosted its holding in Apple by about 4 million shares.
In 2011, Buffett invested more than US$10 billion into IBM. The move shocked many, because the investor had long steered clear of technology stocks, saying they were outside his area of expertise. He defended the pick for years as Big Blue struggled with declining sales.
Earlier this year, he did an about-face, saying his thesis was flawed and began to cut back the holding.