Warren Buffett speaks at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 4, 2024.
CNBC
Berkshire Hathaway, early investor BID thanks to the late Charlie Munger, has continued to reduce its huge stake in China’s largest electric vehicle maker.
Warren Buffett’s conglomerate sold another 1.3 million shares of Hong Kong-listed BYD for $39.8 million, the company said. filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The sale reduced Berkshire’s stake from 7% to 6.9%.
conglomerate first bought about 225 million shares of Shenzhen-based BYD in 2008 for about $230 million. The bet proved extremely profitable as the electric vehicle market experienced explosive growth in China and other countries.
Berkshire sold half its stake through sales in 2022 and 2023 after BYD shares soared nearly 600% to a record high in April 2022 since early 2008.
Hong Kong rules only require an application when the stake percentage exceeds a whole number, so if Berkshire’s stake falls below 6%, another application will be made.
Munger’s influence
BYD, founded by Wang Chuanfu, began producing batteries for mobile phones back in the 1990s. By 2003, the company had shifted its focus to automobiles and has since become a leading automobile brand in China, as well as a major manufacturer of electric vehicle batteries.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, BYD dethroned Tesla as the world’s leading electric vehicle maker by selling more battery-powered vehicles than its US rival.
In 2010, Buffett said Munger, Berkshire’s late vice chairman, “deserves 100 percent of the credit for BYD.” Munger was introduced to BYD by his friend Li Lu, founder of Seattle-based asset management firm Himalaya Capital.