Warren Buffett praises Apple CEO Tim Cook in annual shareholders letter
In his annual letter to shareholders, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett praised Apple CEO Tim Cook, revealed his latest investments, and criticized Wall Street.
Video Transcript
- Welcome back. 91 and 98 years young, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger reminding the investing world over the weekend there is plenty of fuel left in the tank and even a bit of fire. Taking aim, again, at crypto, which we will dive into later in the program. But there was also plenty of praise at Woodstock for capitalists, in particular, for Apple CEO, Tim Cook, who was in the audience, the Oracle announcing he added $600 million in shares during an Apple first quarter slide, increasing Berkshire's holding and nearly $1.6 billion, the single largest shareholder of Apple stock.
Buffett saying, quote, "Cook properly regards users of Apple products as his first love." Rachelle, that was one of my favorite quotes of the weekend from the Oracle.
RACHELLE AKUFFO: I mean, he certainly has no lack of praise for Tim Cook in terms of a range of things, whether it's his repurchasing program for stock. So you knew this was going to be good. I'm not sure everyone knew that it was going to be $600 million worth of Apple stock that he scooped up. But you know what, they don't call you the Oracle for nothing. He knew when to buy the dip. And he said himself he would have bought more if the stock had not crept back up.
So I think it's very interesting that he is still so bullish on Apple. As we've seen, the stock has sort of been a little bit volatile through 2022. But look, he's the Oracle for a reason. Clearly, he sees more growth there for Apple, so who am I to disagree?
- He certainly does. And we know, Rachelle, he's been bullish on that name for quite some time. Another stock that stuck out to me, guys, was Activision and what he had to say there. Because we know that this has really been a focal point. I guess now, we know it's been a focal point here for the company, but certainly, a name that a lot of investors have been closely watching ever since Microsoft made an offer for Activision at the beginning of the year.
But Buffett making the announcement that they boosted their stake in Activision from just 2% to 9.5%. They almost have a nearly 10% stake in the company. Buffett basically justifying his move, saying that he thought that their stock was far below where it should be valued after Microsoft did make that bet. And you can see some excitement around the stock today with shares moving up just around 3%. So a nod here for Activision. I'm sure we will see at least increased interest in the name here over the coming weeks.
- Yeah, that jump down to me too, because this is really a bet. It's just a bet that that deal is going to be approved by federal regulators and no inside knowledge clearly by Warren Buffett. I guess he's just seeing both sides of this. He says, well, Microsoft clearly has the money. He admitted, I have no idea, but my bet is it's going to be approved.
Now, the question is, if it's not approved, is that a good bet? I don't know if that stock is going to continue to get higher, or if it's in the neck of the woods, 78 and they offered, what, 95 is the Microsoft purchase. So that will take time to figure out if that's a good bet, Rachelle.
RACHELLE AKUFFO: We'll have to see if that pays off, indeed.
