Warren Buffett's Apple stake surged to $128 bn; it would be $146 bn without this mistake

Berkshire Hathaway's chairman and CEO Warren Buffett's investment in Apple jumped to $128 billion, thanks to the iPhone maker's stock price closing at a record high on Wednesday.

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway had spent 1 billion Apple shares worth $36 billion, which would be worth $146 billion today.

Buffett, who has more than tripled his money on Apple shares in the past three years, would have quadrupled the amount if he didn't sell a chunk of the holding. Buffett has cashed in about 12 per cent of his Apple shares in recent years.

Buffet sold 9.81 million Apple shares at the end of 2020, admitting in May that this was his decision and was against the advice of Berkshire VP Charlie Munger. Buffett’s Apple mistake cost Berkshire Hathaway up to $18 billion.

"That was probably a mistake…Charlie in his usual low key way let me know he thought it was a mistake, too… It’s an extraordinary business… [Tim Cook] couldn’t do what Steve Jobs obviously could do in terms of creation, but Steve Jobs couldn’t do what Tim Cook has done in many respects," said Buffett as per a Business Insider report.  

"Of course, everything is relative. The fund isn’t exactly hurting, and we’d need to know the returns on the investments purchased with the money taken from Apple to know the true cost of the move," he added.

Despite Buffett's pruning, Apple remains one of his best investments ever. Berkshire has earned nearly $775 million in yearly dividends over the past three years, and racked in $11 billion from the share sales in 2020, he disclosed in his shareholder letter in 2021. Apple accounts for more than 40 per cent of its US stock portfolio in recent months.