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Buffett Buys Big Slice of Apple


FILE - Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett speaks during an interview with Liz Claman on the Fox Business Network in Omaha, Neb.
FILE - Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett speaks during an interview with Liz Claman on the Fox Business Network in Omaha, Neb.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett appears to be giving the slumping Apple stock a vote of confidence.

The company he runs, Berkshire Hathaway, bought just over 9.8 million shares in the tech giant, according to regulatory papers released Monday.

The average price paid was $109 a share.

Apple shares are down 14 percent so far this year, and Buffett himself has already taken a loss on the purchase as shares are currently valued at just over $90.

The shares did get a 2 percent bump in early trading Monday on the Buffett news.

The billionaire investor has typically eschewed tech stocks, opting instead for blue chip companies like Kraft Heinz, Wells Fargo and Coca-Cola, among others.

Despite the purchase valued at nearly $1 billion, Buffett’s exposure to Apple is relatively small by his standards.

He also has holdings of IBM, which he has been accumulating over the past several years, and he is reportedly backing a bid to buy Yahoo.

Buffett’s move is the opposite of investor Carl Icahn, who recently sold his firm’s entire stake in Apple. Icahn was reportedly concerned about the company facing stiff competition in China’s growing market.

The big purchase and subsequent stock boost make Apple, at least temporarily, the most valuable company in the world, displacing Alphabet, which is the parent company of Google.

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