Berkshire Hathaway revealed over the weekend that its profits plunged 64% during the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period last year.
The large collection of companies reported $12.7 billion in profit, Warren Buffett told shareholders at the company's annual meeting in Omaha. that was down from $35.5 billion.
The drop was reportedly largely due to steep declines in the paper value of some investments but the company said most of the businesses it owned performed well.
The company disclosed that it had sold about 13% of its holding in Apple over the past three months. The technology company remains the largest share of Berkshire's portfolio at 40% of its holdings.
He didn't give an explaination for the sale but Buffett took great measures to praise Apple and expected the iPhone maker to remain the company's largest holding this year unless something very unexpected happened.
Apple CEO Tim Cook was in the audience as Buffett spoke on Saturday.
Buffett's company is sitting on a record $188.993 billion in cash. Buffett said the company is not currently looking at any major acquisitions, the Associated Press reported.
"We'd love to spend it but we won't spend it unless we're doing something with very little risk that will make us a lot of money," Buffett said.
He also warned his investors that artificial intelligence could turn financial scams into the "growth industry of all time."
The meeting started with a long video tribute to Berkshire's former Vice Chairman and longtime Buffett business partner Charlie Munger, who died last year at the age of 99.
