Berkshire’s Cash Pile Hits All-Time High, Trims $14 Billion In Apple Shares

(Bloomberg) -- Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s cash pile reached $325.2 billion in the third quarter, a record for the conglomerate as Warren Buffett continued to refrain from major acquisitions while trimming some of his most significant equity stakes.

Berkshire once again trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc., the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate said Saturday in a statement. The firm’s stake in the iPhone maker was valued at $69.9 billion at the end of the quarter, down from $84.2 billion in the second quarter, indicating that the company cut its stake by about 25%. 

Berkshire first disclosed its Apple stake in 2016 and had spent $31.1 billion for the 908 million of Apple shares it held through the end of 2021. 

Buffett said in May that Apple was an “even better” business than two others in which Berkshire owns shares: American Express Co. and Coca-Cola Co. Apple would likely remain its top holding, indicating that tax issues had motivated the sale, “but I don’t mind at all, under current conditions, building the cash position,” he said.

Berkshire was a net seller of shares in the quarter. The company reported $34.6 billion of net share sales in the three months through September.

The company has struggled to find ways to deploy its cash pile, as Buffett has found market prices too high to find attractive deals. At its annual shareholder meeting in May, Buffett said Berkshire wasn’t in a rush to spend “unless we think we’re doing something that has very little risk and can make us a lot of money.”

Buffett, 94, has used some of the cash hoard to repurchase some of its own stock, though even that had become costlier recently. Shares of Berkshire have gained 25% this year, boosting its market value to $974.3 billion. Its market capitalisation eclipsed $1 trillion for the first time on Aug. 28.

This past quarter, Berkshire declined to buy back its own stock for the first time since it changed its policy in 2018.

Berkshire’s operating earnings fell 6% from a year earlier, to $10.09 billion, as insurance underwriting earnings slumped.

Earnings from underwriting at the firm’s collection of insurance businesses slumped 69%, to $750 million, versus $2.4 billion a year earlier, driven by higher losses at Berkshire Hathaway Primary Group.