Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, may 7, local time, Berkshire Hathaway reported a first-quarter net profit of $35.5 billion in the first quarter of 2023, up a staggering 540% from the same period last year. Behind this enviable report card, Apple, as Berkshire's largest position, undoubtedly plays an important role. Apple shares have risen 33% since the start of the year.

Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett shared some of his thoughts on Apple at Berkshire Hathaway's (Berkshire Hathaway) annual shareholders' meeting today. Not only does he praise Apple as the best company his group has, but he also thinks the iPhone is more important to consumers than the second car.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has been bullish on Apple since 2016 and bought shares in the company. Although he has repeatedly reiterated (including today) that he doesn't know anything about devices such as the iPhone, he understands consumer behavior and customer loyalty to Apple. To explain how strong this loyalty is, Buffett said in an interview last month that he didn't think Apple users would give up iPhone for $10, 000. At Berkshire's annual meeting this weekend, he made another point about Apple's user loyalty, saying that iPhone is a priority for users, and that they are not willing to give up the iPhone even if they want to give up the second car.

"Apple has a very close relationship with consumers," Buffett said. "some people will be willing to spend $1500 on such a phone, while others may spend $35000 on a second car. But if they choose to give up the phone or the car, they will give up buying a car, and the close relationship between Apple and consumers is unparalleled. We don't have anything like it all, but we are very, very happy to have 5.6% or more, and we are happy with every 0.1% increase. "

Buffett's confidence in Apple has grown over time. As early as 2020, he said that Apple was "probably the best company in the world." Today, he made it more clear that Apple was number one, removing the "possibility." In addition to saying that Apple is better than any company that Berkshire has complete control of, he said Apple is "the best company we have." To support this, Berkshire's about 5.6 per cent stake in AAPL is now worth about $116 billion (CTOnews.com note: currently about 801.56 billion yuan). Apple accounts for the largest share of Berkshire's nearly $300 billion equity investment, accounting for nearly 40 per cent. Here are the top five companies held by Berkshire Hathaway:

Apple: $116.31 billion

Bank of America: $33.45 billion

Chevron: $29.25 billion

Coca-Cola: $25.44 billion

American Express: $22.4 billion

Mr Buffett added that he regretted selling some Apple shares a few years ago. "A few years ago, I made a mistake. I sold some [Apple] shares. It was a stupid decision." "We want to have a good business, and we want to have enough liquidity," Buffett said. I think there is no limit to the sky, and we have to learn from these mistakes. "

Buffett and his deputy, Charlie Munger (Charlie Munger), also talked about other topics, such as the status of the dollar as the world's reserve currency, the prospects for commercial real estate and banking, opportunities for core value investments and the development of artificial intelligence. They also answered shareholders' questions about Berkshire Hathaway's operations, investments, dividends and buybacks.

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