Detiktoday.com – When many investors posted losses on investing in the stock market, Warren Buffett made hundreds of trillions of profits.
Buffett is estimated to get a profit of US $ 40 billion or Rp. 591.3 trillion (assuming Rp. 14,784 / US $) from buying Apple shares when the price was below last March.
Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway is indeed diligent in buying Apple shares. At present Apple shares account for 40% of Berkshire Hathaway’s total equity portfolio.
The move to buy up Apple shares is probably Warren Buffett’s biggest trade.
Investment in technology giant Apple plays an important role in helping Buffett deal with the corona virus crisis. Especially when the other pillars of his business, including insurance and energy, suffer losses due to this global pandemic.
Berkshire first bought 10 million shares of Apple in May 2016, and increased its ownership to 245 million shares or valued at more than US $ 95 billion in just over four years. Berkshire is now Apple’s second largest shareholder, with Vanguard holding the first position.
At first Berkshire bought Apple shares worth US $ 35 billion, or US $ 141 per share. By the end of 2019 the total value of Apple shares owned by Buffett was US $ 60 billion.
“If he were trapped in his weapon and only bought shares of value, the portfolio wouldn’t do that either,” Cathy Seifert, a Berkshire analyst at CFRA Research, told CNBC International. “In the end, shareholders will praise this step.”
Apple shares rose more than 10% last month, bringing the 2020 increase to more than 32%. This stock also received another boost on Wednesday (07/15/2020) for winning a court case against the European Commission over a dispute related to Irish tax with a fine of nearly US $ 15 billion.
Berkshire Class A shares rose more than 6% this month to US $ 285,520 each Wednesday, cutting the 2020 loss to around 15%. Stocks fell nearly 20% in the first quarter.
Outside the Berkshire equity portfolio, the company has many businesses from the railroad giant BNSF, insurance company Geico and Dairy Queen that are less immune to pandemics.
“He manages some very large, long-term reinsurance risks,” Seifert said, referring to the Berkshire insurance business. “There are some serious claims that must be paid and he needs to keep it dry.”
In addition to Apple shares, Berkshire also had 533,300 Amazon shares at the end of the first quarter, which is now worth more than US $ 1.6 billion. Based on Forbes data, Buffett’s wealth now reaches US $ 72.6 billion as of Friday (07/17/2020), up 0.26% or US $ 186 million.
