Warren Buffett, who has famously shied away from technology stocks, has made a killing on his investment in Apple’s stock.
Writing in his annual report, Buffett revealed that Berkshire Hathaway owned 61.24 million shares of Apple at the end of 2016.
The cost for those shares collectively was $6.747 billion, meaning the average cost per share was just over $110.
Apple closed above $136 on Friday, meaning Berkshire Hathaway has made more than $1.62 billion on its investment so far this year.
Berkshire Hathaway first started investing in Apple shares during the first quarter of 2016. Buffett has hinted that his young investment deputies — Todd Combs and Tedd Weschler — were the ones behind that investment. Combs and Weschler each manage more than $10 billion.
At the 2017 Daily Journal Meeting (DJCO) in Los Angeles earlier this month, Buffett’s right-hand man Charlie Munger explained how he and Buffett have changed with age.
“Warren learned better over time, I’ve learned better. The nice thing about the game we’re in is you can keep learning, and we’re still doing it,” Munger, 93, said.
He acknowledged that they will change their minds about industries that they once avoided. Industries like technology, railroads and airlines.
“We did the same thing with railroads — ‘railroads are no damn good, too many of them, truck competition.’ We were right — it was a terrible business for about 80 years. Finally, they got down to four big railroads, and it’s a better business. Something similar is happening in the airline business.”
Munger went on to explain how the investment business has gotten harder.
“In the old days, I frequently talk to Warren about the old days, for years and years and years what we did was shoot fish in a barrel,” he said. “But it was so easy that we didn’t really want to shoot fish while they were moving. So we were waiting until they slowed down and shot at them with a shot gun. It was just that easy. It’s gotten harder and harder and harder. Now we get little edges when before we had golden cinches. It isn’t any less interesting. And we do not make the same returns we made when we’d pick this low hanging fruit off trees that offered a lot of it.”
He continued: “[Buffett’s] changed when he buys airlines and he’s changed when he buys Apple. Think of the hooey we’ve done over the years about high-tech, ‘we just don’t understand it,’ ‘it’s not our circle of competence,’ ‘worst business in the world is airlines.’ And what do we appear in the press with? Apple and a bunch of airlines. I don’t think we’ve gone crazy. I think the answer is we’re adapting reasonably to a business that’s gotten much more difficult.”
Yahoo Finance will host the exclusive live stream of Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholders meeting on May 6, 2017.
Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.
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