Warren Buffett cashes in US$26 million from BYD bet as Berkshire Hathaway pares stake in world’s No 1 EV maker

Warren Buffett’s firm sold more than 1 million Hong Kong-listed shares on January 3 at an average price of HK$191.44, to trim its stake to 13.97 per cent
BYD has slumped about 39 per cent from its 2022 peak in June, as this year’s market rally bypasses the stock

Electric & new energy vehicles

Martin Choi

Published: 10:20am, 10 Jan, 2023

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Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has continued to trim its stake in BYD Co, the world’s biggest electric-vehicle (EV) manufacturer, even as the stock has slumped by more than one-third in Hong Kong over the past six months.

The Omaha, Nebraska investment firm sold 1.06 million shares for HK$202.5 million (US$26 million) on January 3, or at an average price of HK$191.44, according to a Hong Kong stock exchange filing on Monday. The sale reduced its holding to 13.97 per cent from 14.06 per cent.

The latest sale is the seventh cutback totalling almost one-third of its long-held 225 million shares in BYD. Despite dethroning Tesla as the top seller of EVs since the second quarter last year, the stock slumped 39 per cent from its 2022 peak at the end of June, amid lockdowns and factory disruptions, before Beijing abandoned its zero-Covid policy.

Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Photo: AP

BYD rose 2.9 per cent to HK$207.20 at the close of Tuesday trading while the Hang Seng Index slipped 0.3 per cent. The stock earlier slumped more than 3 per cent to HK$195 on the news.

Berkshire had a starting position of 225 million shares in BYD, a stake built from scratch in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis. The US firm began selling down its shares from August 2022, according to stock exchange filings.

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The Chinese carmaker, which started life as a battery producer, set new monthly sales records for 10 consecutive months from March 2022. It sold a record number of EVs last month to consolidate its market position, forcing Tesla to cut prices to boost sales.

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Founded by Chinese billionaire Wang Chuanfu in 1995, BYD mainly sells cars in mainland China, but is also looking to secure footholds in Asia, Europe and South America. The carmaker last month said it was aiming to crack the European market with plans to build local factories on the continent.