Telephone lines They were down this week for several days at Berkshire Hathaway’s headquarters, so CEO Warren Buffett was working on his iPhone.
“I don’t know how to do it much, but I know how to answer the phone” – Buffett, 93, he told The Omaha World-Herald on Wednesday.
“I’m glad we didn’t sell all of Apple,” he joked.
Buffett only upgraded to the iPhone 4 years ago after previous use a $20 flip phone.
Buffett he said CNBC’s Becky Quick in February 2020 that she uses her iPhone “as a phone” and doesn’t use “all of its amenities like most people.”
Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The news that Buffett is using an iPhone for business calls comes days after Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting, where the conglomerate cut 13% its shares in Apple, i.e. roughly 115 million shares.
Coming to Apple on March 28 Closing price at $171.48 per share, Berkshire appears to have sold about $20 billion price of Apple.
Apple is still Berkshire and Berkshire’s largest holding stays Apple’s largest single shareholder. Berkshire still has Apple’s 6% stake in the iPad maker, or 905 million shares, price about $167 billion, based on Thursday’s announcement Closing price.
At Saturday’s shareholder meeting, Buffett he suggested that Berkshire reduced its stake in Apple for tax reasons. He said he was confident led by Apple CEO Tim Cook, who was in the audience then.
“We will own – unless something really extraordinary happens – we will own Apple, American Express and Coca-Cola when Greg takes over this company,” Buffett said, referring to future Berkshire CEO Greg Abel.
Apple makes up one fifth Berkshire Portfolio. Berkshire’s next 4 largest holdings are Bank of America, American Express, Coca-Cola and Chevron.