Warren Buffett’s investment firm has fully exited its stake in Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD after backing the ‘Tesla killer’ for 17 years.
BYD is now the biggest EV manufacturer in the world, having emerged from relative obscurity two years ago to become a household name and dwarfing the new vehicle output of its closest rivals.
Listed in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, BYD shares are up more than 200 per cent over the last five years and around 575 per cent since the start of 2020.
Buffett’s firm initially invested in BYD in 2008, paying $230million for about 225 million shares – equivalent to a 10 per cent stake at the time.
It began selling those shares in 2022 after BYD’s share price had risen more than 20-fold.
BYD is now the biggest EV manufacturer in the world, having emerged from relatively obscurity two years ago to become a household name
US regulatory filings revealed on Monday show Berkshire Hathaway’s energy subsidiary recorded the value of its BYD investment as zero as of 31 March, down from $415million at the end of 2024.
It came after BYD revealed its quarterly profit fell for the first time in three and a half years.
BYD’s domestic sales, which make up nearly 80 per cent of its global shipments, were down for a fourth month in a row in August, with the group slashing annual sales targets by as much as 16 per cent to 4.6million vehicles.
Berkshire Hathaway and BYD are both yet to comment officially.
Li Yunfei, BYD’s general manager of branding and public relations, took to Chinese social media site Weibo to thank Berkshire Hathaway for its ‘investment, help and companionship over the past 17 years’.
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