The closest the Oracle of Omaha has gotten to technology must be his love for IBM. The multinational technology and consulting corporation is one of Berkshire Hathaway’s core holdings. But is the news that the investment group had acquired 9.81 million shares in Apple in the first quarter of the year a change in strategy? The Apple share price has come under pressure of late as the group experienced its first quarterly decline in iPhone sales, ending a more than decade of uninterrupted growth. For Buffett the share price may have been at a level that reached his definition of value and as he says ‘understanding’. The news of the purchase sent the stock up 2 percent. This is also potentially good news for the Biznews Global portfolio, which has Apple as one of its core shares. – Stuart Lowman
by Noah Buhayar
(Bloomberg) — Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. disclosed a stake in Apple Inc., betting that the technology company will rebound after a slump driven by a slowdown in iPhone sales.
Berkshire held 9.81 million Apple shares as of March 31, according to a regulatory filing from the billionaire’s Omaha, Nebraska-based company. The holding was valued at $1.07 billion at the end of the first quarter.
Apple is pivoting toward services and exploring new technologies such as self-driving cars to reduce reliance on the iPhone. Sales of the product dropped in the first quarter of this year, ending more than a decade of uninterrupted growth.
While Buffett has typically shunned technology investments, his deputies Todd Combs and Ted Weschler have been building their own portfolios in recent years. Their holdings are typically $1 billion or less per company, while Buffett makes larger wagers.
Apple rose 2.2 percent to $92.50 in early trading at 7:53 a.m. in New York after Berkshire disclosed its holding. The company had slumped 14 percent this year through Friday.
