Buffet invests in Amazon



05/06/2019 12:46 PM


Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the investment company of American billionaire Warren Buffett, acquired a stake in online retailer Amazon.com Inc., said Buffett in an interview with CNBC. He noted that it was not he who made the investment decision, but one of Berkshire’s portfolio managers, odd Combs and Ted Weschler.



“I was an idiot for not buying Amazon shares,” he said.

Berkshire will publish information about its assets as of the end of the first quarter of 2019 later this month.

In the past, Buffett spoke well about Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and called it his mistake that he had not invested in the online retailer at an early stage.

"I was very, very, very high opinion of the abilities of Jeff Bezos when I first met him, and yet I underestimated him," - said Buffett at the annual meeting of shareholders last year.

Last year, Berkshire, Amazon and JPMorgan Chase & Co. created a joint project called Haven, which aims to reduce the cost of medical care for employees of the three companies.

Todd Combs and Ted Weschler manage asset portfolios of $ 13 billion each in Berkshire.

Buffett has long avoided investing in shares of technology companies, saying he did not understand this market. He made an exception for IBM, having invested $ 10 billion in this company in 2011, but this investment was unsuccessful, and the billionaire sold almost all of IBM's securities in 2018.

Berkshire acquired Apple’s shares only in 2016 and over time increased its share in the iPhone manufacturer to $ 50 billion.

Amazon shares have jumped 27% since the start of 2019.

source: bloomberg.com


More