Episode summary
Berkshire Hathaway Slashes Amazon Stake | Bloomberg Intelligence
Bloomberg Intelligence
· · Hosts: Paul Sweeney, Scarlet Fu · Guests: Matthew Palazola, Ryan Vlastelica, Randall Williams, Mandeep Singh
Summary
Berkshire Hathaway’s latest 13F showed a major shift in posture, with the analyst describing Warren Buffett’s final quarter as CEO as a bearish one marked by about $5 billion in Q4 sales and a 75% cut to Amazon. He argued the sales fit Buffett’s long-term concern about taxes on huge unrealized gains, while purchases in Chevron and Chubb showed Berkshire still favored energy and insurance. The discussion also turned to what happens after Buffett: the analyst said Berkshire has enormous excess capital, and that a future dividend or other capital return could become a catalyst if the market thinks the new leadership will not match Buffett’s investing record.
The conversation on Apple focused on how the company’s low correlation to the Nasdaq 100 reflects a strategic choice to sit out much of the AI spending frenzy. An equities reporter said Apple now looks relatively insulated from both AI capex risk and AI disruption risk, while still having upside as the main device layer for consumer AI. He also pointed to Apple’s partnership with Alphabet as a way to offer AI features without bearing the full development burden.
Later segments covered Madison Square Garden Sports’ plan to explore spinning off the Knicks and Rangers, with the argument that separate businesses could unlock value and better fit tax realities. The tech discussion closed with Meta deepening its Nvidia reliance and Uber spending more than $100 million on autonomous-vehicle charging infrastructure, reinforcing the idea that scale and network effects still matter in AI and ride sharing.
Key takeaways
- The analyst said Berkshire’s Q4 sales, including a 75% Amazon cut, look like a final-CEO-era de-risking by Buffett.
- Berkshire added to Chevron and Chubb, which the analyst said fit its energy and insurance strengths.
- The analyst said a dividend or other capital return could become a bigger Berkshire catalyst if investors think the post-Buffett era will be less effective.
- An equities reporter said Apple is unusually insulated from both AI capex risk and AI disruption, even as its Nasdaq correlation fell to 0.21.
- The sports reporter said splitting the Knicks and Rangers could unlock value and help address tax and ownership-structure issues.
- The tech analyst said Uber’s scale, not just autonomous vehicles, remains its main advantage against smaller robo-taxi rivals.
Notable quotes
“Buffett goes out like a bear with $5 billion in Q4 sales. That's according to the 13Fs”
“the thing about his investment in Apple was that he famously said he was only investing in things that he understood”
“the conglomerate also cut its Amazon stake by 75%”
“they have tremendous excess capital”
“Apple is probably going to be the major way that people access AI services on their phones, on their computers, on their tablets”
How the episode opens
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All right, we got Scarlet Fu, Paul Sweeney. We're live here in our Bloomberg Interactive Broker Studio. We're streaming live on YouTube and at bloomberg.com.
Buffett goes out like a bear with $5 billion in Q4 sales. That's according to the 13Fs. Matthew Palazola joins us here.
Senior analyst. He covers the insurance companies including Berkshire Hathaway for Bloomberg Intelligence. Uh he's covered that company for decades here.
Was this the last quarter where Warren Buffett was actively managing maybe I guess the account along with his co-managers there? So this is maybe the last time we can say Warren Buffett sold this or bought this.
Yes, it is. So he was the CEO uh as of the fourth quarter. So these moves that we're looking at in the 13F took place in the fourth quarter of last year.
Uh to be totally fair, he's been stepping back. He probably wasn't behind a lot of this anyway, but this is actually the last quarter that you could even attribute these things to him. He remains chairman, so you never know.
He'd be looming behind the scenes, but uh his last quarter as CEO. And the thing about his investment in Apple was that he famously said he was only investing in things that he understood in that typically did not include technology companies. But Apple, I guess he saw more as a consumer company than anything else.
Yeah, I think so. And I think the, you know, his thing was Moes, right?
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- berkshire amazon stake cut
- apple vs nasdaq 100 correlation
- ai chip supply deals
- autonomous vehicle charging stations
- sports business spin-off plans
Companies and tickers mentioned
- BRK-B
- BRK-A
- AMZN
- AAPL
- META
- NVDA
- UBER
- Berkshire Hathaway
- Amazon
- Apple
- Meta Platforms
- Nvidia
- Uber Technologies
Watch the episode
Watch “Berkshire Hathaway Slashes Amazon Stake | Bloomberg Intelligence” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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