Warren Buffett
(Bloomberg Photo)
Warren Buffett has publicly acknowledged that he reduced Berkshire Hathaway’s stake in Apple at the wrong time, telling CNBC’s Becky Quick during a Tuesday appearance on Squawk Box that he parted with shares sooner than he should have — while also revealing he first acquired them at an advantageous moment.
“I sold it too soon. But, I bought it even sooner, so,” Buffett said in the CNBC interview.
Despite the trimming, Apple continues to hold the top spot in Berkshire’s portfolio. The conglomerate’s stake stood at $61.96 billion at the close of last year, according to InsiderScore, making it the single largest position the firm carries.
Buffett expressed satisfaction with that ranking, though he acknowledged concerns when the holding had ballooned to a size that nearly matched the rest of the portfolio combined. He remains open to building the position back up, but only at the right price. “I’m very happy to have it be our largest holding,” Buffett said. “I was not happy to have it be as large as almost everything else combined.”
Even after Apple shares slid more than 14% from a recent peak — including a decline of over 6% in the current month alone — he does not consider the stock cheap enough to act on.
“It’s not impossible that Apple would get to a price, we would buy a lot of it,” he added. “But not in this market.”
The Oracle of Omaha also noted that Berkshire has generated more than $100 billion in pretax profits from its Apple investment. On the subject of leadership, he offered a nuanced comparison between current CEO Tim Cook and the company’s late founder Steve Jobs.
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“Tim Cook has done better with the hand. Steve Jobs — he couldn’t have done what Steve Jobs did — but Steve Jobs handed him a hand that Steve would not have done as well,” Buffett told CNBC.
“Tim was a fantastic manager, and he’s a good guy, and somehow he gets along with everybody in the world,” he added. “That’s a technique I wouldn’t have, for example, certainly my partner, Charlie Munger, wouldn’t have had it.”
In Buffett’s view, Cook has managed the hand he was dealt with exceptional skill, even if the original cards came from a once-in-a-generation visionary. He praised Cook as a talented manager and noted his rare ability to maintain relationships across the board — a quality Buffett suggested neither he nor his late partner Charlie Munger6y possessed in the same measure.
The interview also came with a separate announcement: Buffett is reviving his long-running charity lunch.
Buffett stepped down as Berkshire’s chief executive at the start of 2026, ending a tenure of roughly six decades at the helm. He continues to serve as the company’s chairman.