Berkshire Hathaway, billionaire Warren Buffet’s company, recorded record cash, writes the “Financial Times”. The company accumulated $189 billion in cash in the first quarter of 2024, in part thanks to Buffet dumping some of his shares, including Apple.
According to the British newspaper, these cash values show that money has been accumulating without any new investments in sight by the company.
The company revealed on Saturday that it sold just under $20 billion in shares in the first three months of the year, buying just $2.7 billion in the same period. As a result, the value of its stock portfolio fell to $336 billion from $354 billion at the end of 2023.
The document, released to the markets this Saturday, shows that Berkshire sold a significant part of its stake in Apple. At the end of the period under review, its position in the iPhone maker was worth $135.4 billion, while at the end of 2023 it was worth $174.3 billion.
The numbers come as Berkshire shareholders gather in Omaha, Nebraska, for the company’s annual meeting.
Berkshire also reported that its operating profits grew 39% in the first quarter, year-on-year, to $11.2 billion.
Despite record cash and growth in operating profits, net profit (‘real’ profit) fell 64% to $12.7 billion. However, it is important to highlight that Warren Buffet does not discourage his shareholders from trusting the company’s net income figures – he says they are “meaningless” – as they are affected by fluctuations in the value of his share portfolio from quarter to quarter.
Since the beginning of the year, Berkshire shares have risen 11%, outpacing the S&P 500’s 8% total return. Berkshire hasn’t paid a dividend since the 1960s, the newspaper writes.
