Buffett’s Berkshire Sat Out Market Drop, Trimmed Bank Stocks
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. made no major purchases during the market slump that preceded President Donald Trump’s trade war, instead whittling or selling off holdings in financial stocks during the first quarter.
In the last year of his tenure as Berkshire’s chief executive officer, Buffett exited his position in Citigroup Inc., according to a regulatory filing Thursday. The firm also shrank its pile of Capital One Financial Corp. shares, as well as its longtime stake in Bank of America Corp.
Buffett, 94, started cutting his BofA stake in July last year, without providing any explanation for the move. He now owns 8.3% of the US lender and is no longer its biggest shareholder, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The conglomerate also exited its stake in Brazil’s Nubank, which has grown into one of the world’s biggest digital banks since its 2013 founding. Berkshire bought a $500 million stake before the bank went public in 2021. The stock has gained 46% since.
Buffett largely refrained from making large acquisitions in recent years, instead building a cash pile that reached nearly $350 billion by the end of March. At the conglomerate’s annual meeting this month, the billionaire said the recent market downturn was “really nothing,” pointing to times in Berkshire’s history when his company’s stock lost half of its value in short spans.
