Warren Buffett Praises Apple After Trimming Stake
He said iPhone may be the greatest product ever made. He said the business was even better than American Express in Coca-Cola, which are two other businesses he owned. And he said that Apple will likely remain Berkshire’s top holding, you know, until the end of the year. So I don’t think it was a really sort of a view on Apple that he was taking. And he did indeed hint that there were tax implications that motivated the sale. Lots of questions, of course, in terms of how the conglomerate will operate without Charlie Munger. Is there a deeper question, you know, looking further ahead in terms of succession now? So what really looms large over the meeting was the absence of Charlie Munger, who was Warren Buffett’s long time business partner and right hand man and confident. And he died in November last year. And it really can’t be underestimated. You know, the level of admiration, affection and esteem that Munger was held in both by Buffett and shareholders. And much of the meeting was devoted to paying tributes to Manga. But I think it also really focused questions on what Berkshire might look like in a post Warren Buffett world. And shareholders wanted to know, will the same culture carry on under Greg Abel, who is his anointed successor? And will Greg Abel take over capital allocation for Warren Buffett? And you know, Warren Buffett said that would make sense. And he also sort of really assured the shareholders and investors that it was in good hands. And he even joked saying with Greg Abel and Ajit Shane, who is the vice chairman for insurance operations, why would they settle for Warren Buffett? But of course, there’s a big question as well as not just the succession planning but also how they plan to spend the enormous cash pile because that grew in the latest reporting period and and still it’s not being deployed exactly. Yet again, his cash file hit a record at $189 billion and Buffett explained that they just can’t find the kind of needle moving acquisition that they want to spend significant amounts of capital on. And remember, Buffett is known for these big ticket deals. And he has been struggling to find them in recent years. And of course the cash pile is thus built up. But he actually said on Saturday that in this uncertain world where geopolitical risks are bound and we’re uncertain about the trajectory of rate cuts and inflation remains high, he actually is quite comfortable holding that big cash pile. And he also said that in if in this world that is more sort of complex and intertwined, more things can go wrong and this cash pile having that readily available. In those situations may pose an opportunity for Berkshire, which has in the past swept in in those occasions, on those occasions such as in 2008 and 2009.