Berkshire Hathaway More Than Doubled its Stake in Apple in January - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Berkshire Hathaway More Than Doubled its Stake in Apple in January

by

In an interview with CNBC today, billionaire investor Warren Buffett revealed that his holding company Berkshire Hathaway held around 133 million shares in Apple prior to the company's record-breaking earnings results on January 31.

warren buffett
Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that it held 57.3 million shares in Apple as of December 31, 2016, so it more than doubled its stake in the iPhone maker in January. The holding, which reflects about 2.5% of Apple's outstanding shares, is worth over $17 billion if the shares are still held today.

Berkshire Hathaway disclosed a nearly $1 billion stake in Apple last May, which led the iPhone maker's stock to soar 9% once the investment became public knowledge. Apple stock has been on the rise since then, closing at an all-time high of $137.11 last week just nine months after setting a 52-week low of $89.47 in May 2016.

Top Rated Comments

djcerla Avatar
125 months ago
The holding, which reflects about 2.5% of Apple's outstanding shares

this is absolutely bonkers: AAPL is now Buffett's second holding after Coca-Cola. Excellent news for the stock.

Buffett also praised Tim Cook, and rightly so. 2017 will be an amazing year for Apple and AAPL.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
125 months ago
I took CNBC guest's words at face value. If that's the case, then wow.
Understood. Berkshire has held 400 million shares (split-adjusted) of KO for a long time. It's currently trading at less than $42, so that's less than $17 billion worth of Coca-Cola. If Berkshire now holds 133 million shares of AAPL (which is what Mr. Buffett indicated this morning), at around $137 that's more than $18 billion worth.
[doublepost=1488208016][/doublepost]To add a little more to what Mr. Buffett said about Apple this morning...

He indicated that Berkshire wasn't currently buying AAPL, that it hadn't bought AAPL since the earnings report. He also indicated that it was at a different price now than he would buy it at.

Also, for those that have suggested it wasn't Mr. Buffett deciding to buy AAPL: We got considerable clarity on that front this morning. Mr. Buffett said that one of those other guys (Todd Combs or Ted Weschler, he wouldn't say which one) had bought 10 million shares of AAPL and Mr. Buffett has now bought 123 million shares of AAPL. That's Mr. Buffett's own characterization of the situation.

Perhaps the funniest thing Mr. Buffett had to say came in response to Becky Quick asking which company Mr. Buffett would bet on going to a $1 Trillion market cap first - Berkshire or Apple. Mr. Buffett said Apple and then proceeded to jokingly say (I'm paraphrasing a bit)... If Tim wants to swap straight up, I've got an 800 number for him. In other words, he'd swap Berkshire Hathaway straight up for Apple if he had that option.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Bart Kela Avatar
125 months ago
I wish I was rich enough to make money off other people's successes.
Warren Buffett started in the same fashion as you: with nothing.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
IJ Reilly Avatar
125 months ago
Can you explain further what you mean between Buffett and luck?
Gosh, you'd only have to ask him. One of Buffett's more admirable traits is the rare personal humility that allows him to admit that luck was a big part of his success.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
125 months ago
I wish I was rich enough to make money off other people's successes.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Macaholic868 Avatar
125 months ago
The Oracle of Omaha has spoken.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Apple Surprise Shine

iPhone 18 Pro Event Could Hit Apple Shares, KeyBanc Warns

Monday September 7, 2026 7:33 am PDT by
Apple's September 9 iPhone announcement event could become a negative catalyst for the stock, KeyBanc Capital Markets warns. In a research note seen by Investing.com, KeyBanc said the event could motivate investors to weigh pricing decisions against the impact of higher costs on demand and margins. KeyBanc added that Apple faces a choice to either raise prices broadly to offset gross...
iOS 27 Next to iPhone

Here's When iOS 27 Rolls Out in Every Time Zone

Sunday September 13, 2026 3:00 am PDT by
Apple is about to release iOS 27, which will finally deliver more advanced Siri AI capabilities as well as a variety of other refinements, improvements, and new features to iPhones. It's Apple's biggest software update of the year, and Apple announced at Wednesday's iPhone event that it will be releasing iOS 27 sometime tomorrow – Monday, September 14. iOS 27 won't be the only release on...
deep black iphone 18 pro

Apple Says iPhone 18 Pro Max Sold in U.S. Differs in One Way

Saturday September 12, 2026 3:27 pm PDT by
As noted by Nicolas Lellouche, who writes for the French tech website Numerama, Apple has updated its tech specs pages for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max to clarify which models are equipped with its new C2 cellular modem and where. Apple now says the iPhone 18 Pro has a C2 modem worldwide, while the iPhone 18 Pro Max uses the chip in every country except for the U.S. According...