Warren Buffett, considered one of the greatest investors of all time, recently admitted that he made a mistake by not investing in Google’s parent company, Alphabet, earlier, even though it was not among his favorites. Speaking to CNBC during an interview, the market veteran said he led the company’s investment in Alphabet, not his successor and Berkshire Hathaway’s new CEO Greg Abel.
In 2017, Buffett also reflected on missed opportunities with Google. He often explained that he avoided buying tech stocks because he didn’t understand how they were making money or whether they would continue to do so—a decision that he later said cost Berkshire investors a lot of money.
Also Read: Warren Buffett Says He Started Berkshire’s Alphabet Bet, But It’s Not His Favorite Here’s why
Apple, meanwhile, remains one of Buffett’s top picks. Buffett first bought Apple shares in 2016, making them Berkshire’s largest position. It accounts for about 22% of the conglomerate’s roughly $263 billion equity portfolio.
In an interview earlier this year, Buffett said he sold Apple too soon and would buy more of it, though not at the then-current market price. “I sold it too soon. But, I bought it early,” he told CNBC. Warren Buffett once joked that outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook made more for Berkshire Hathaway shareholders than he ever did as CEO of the iPhone maker. While Buffett sold a large portion of Berkshire’s Apple holdings, it is still the company’s largest holding.
Berkshire invested about $35 billion in Apple between 2016 and 2018. That quickly grew to about $185 billion before taxes after investing $35 billion, which includes dividends and gains, Buffett was quoted as saying by Business Insider. “And I don’t have to do a bad thing,” he added.
A fresh warning from Warren Buffett
The ‘Oracle of Omaha’ criticized the current stock market environment, indicating that value investing is declining as people choose to gamble instead. “It’s hard to find value when everyone is prioritizing gambling,” the legendary investor said in a recent interview with CNBC. He added that there are times when opportunities are thrown at an investor so quickly, and then there are times when an investor is lucky to find one within a few years. “And it must always be that the latter prevails,” said the ‘Oracle of Omaha’.
“But humans love to gamble, so there’s more money in gambling farming than investing in investing,” said the 95-year-old Berkshire Hathaway chairman.
Also Read: What Is Warren Buffett’s Best Investment Ever? It is not stock
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, opinions and views given by experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)
(You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)
