Warren Buffett, the renowned investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has further reduced his stake in BYD, China's largest electric vehicle manufacturer. Berkshire Hathaway recently sold more shares in BYD's H-shares, bringing its ownership down to 5.99% from the previous 7.02% on June 11. This follows a previous reduction of 1,347,500 shares on June 11 [de4e7f0d] [25773253].
BYD's recent earnings report for the first half of 2024 revealed a revenue of RMB301.127 billion, marking a 15.8% increase year-over-year, and a net profit of RMB13.631 billion, up 24.4% year-over-year. However, the stock opened down approximately 2% at $221.8 following the announcement [33ad7572].
Berkshire Hathaway initially invested in BYD in 2008, purchasing about 225 million shares for $230 million, equivalent to a 10% stake at the time. The late Charlie Munger, Berkshire's vice chairman, played a key role in the BYD investment [73f6bd58]. Despite Buffett's divestment, BYD's shares listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange have shown impressive growth, rising by more than 21% over the past month [25773253].
In contrast, BYD Electronic, a subsidiary of BYD, reported a revenue of RMB78.581 billion, which is a 39.9% increase year-over-year, but its net profit saw only a slight increase of 0.1% year-over-year, leading to a significant drop in its stock price, which opened down 5.08% at $28, hitting a four-month low [33ad7572].
As of March, Berkshire held $189 billion in U.S. Treasury bills, cash, and equivalents after selling $20 billion of stock, primarily Apple, in the first quarter [73f6bd58].