Warren Buffett is back on TV, and on CNBC, to be specific. As he left, he would be “going quiet.” As chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B | BRK-B Price Prediction), he added, “I enjoy the chance to keep in touch with you.” The person to “keep in touch” with is supposed to be the new CEO, Greg Abel.
Abel has run Berkshire this year, and it has gone through an ugly sell-off. It is down 3% this year while the S&P 500 is up 10%. Over the last five years, both have increased by about 75%. That advance worked even though Berkshire’s investments have not been heavily weighted toward mega-cap tech stocks. Buffett made the point that he had pushed into the sector; however, Yesterday, he made the point very clearly that he decided to buy shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG).
The Alphabet investment began late last year, and Berkshire then invested $10 billion in a private placement to fund the expansion of the search company’s AI infrastructure. Buffett did tip his cap to Abel by less than a modest amount. “I am not doing anything that he doesn’t approve of. He’s not doing anything I don’t approve of. We talk all the time, but he is the decider,” he told the TV network.
Behind the scenes, Buffett can’t be happy. Berkshire has been the tool of his decades-long success. Besides private holdings, it has been built on holdings in Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), Chevron, and American Express. He has had particular success with Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY), which he began buying in 2019. He had a “walk-off” home run with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). On CNBC, he discussed the strength of Apple’s leadership. He also expressed worry about the amount of money tech companies are spending on AI.
It is in the early days for Abel. He cannot like, however, Buffett showing up on CNBC dressed like Mr. Rogers. Mr. Rogers often reminded people that his show was his “neighborhood.” Mr. Rogers’ favorite song ended: “Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won’t you be my neighbor?”
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