Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway buys $1B US stake in Apple
Shares of Apple Inc. gained ground Monday after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. disclosed it has taken a new $1 billion US position in the maker of the iPhone.
According to Berkshire Hathaway filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company owned 9.8 million shares of Apple as of March 31. The filing doesn't indicate if Berkshire Hathaway has increased its stake in Apple since then.
Apple was worth more than $130 US a share back in July 2015, but slumped to a recent low of $90.34 on May 12.
Apple's stock had been down lately after the company revealed in its second-quarter results on April 26 that it posted its first year-over-year quarterly decline in sales of the iPhone, its dominant product.
On Monday, following news of Buffett's stake, Apple shares rose $3.36 US, or 3.7 per cent, to close at $93.88 US on Nasdaq.
News of Buffett's move into Apple followed the exit of another high-profile investor, Carl Icahn. He revealed in April that he had sold his entire stake in the company.
While Buffett had long resisted buying into technology companies, his new stake in Apple wasn't the only investment in the tech sector revealed Monday. Berkshire also increased the stake it has in IBM by 198,853 to 81.2 million shares. The Wall Street Journal said Berkshire bought an initial $10 billion US stake in IBM back in 2011.
Buffett's investments come amid reports he may be part of a group looking at buying Yahoo Inc.'s internet assets, according to reports from Reuters. Buffett is said to be in a consortium with Quicken Loans Inc. founder Dan Gilbert.
The Berkshire Hathaway regulatory filing also revealed it boosted its stake in Phillips 66, Visa and Bank of New York Mellon, while it reduced its holding in Wal-Mart, eliminated its stake in AT&T, and chopped its investment in Procter & Gamble by 99 per cent.
