Warren Buffett just lost $4.5 billion because of this stock market decision

Warren Buffett- Berkshire Hathaway Chairman- has taken bets in the markets that have earned billions of dollars in the last eight decades giving him the name ‘Oracle of Omaha’. The ace investor has a net worth of $135 billion making him the 10th richest person in the world. Since 2016, Warren Buffett’s investment firm Berkshire Hathaway has accumulated millions of Apple shares which reportedly account for nearly 50% of his overall stock portfolio.

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But this year, Warren Buffett sold nearly 13% of his overall Apple stock which accounted for 16 million shares in Q1 of 2024, it was reported. At the time, Apple stocks were trading around the $169 to $195 price range and Warren Buffett earned between $19.5 billion to $22.6 billion after offloading the shares.

Since he has sold 16 million Apple shares, Apple's shares have shot up as the ended at a high of $ 207.15 on Tuesday rising by nearly 6.01% in the last five days.

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This means that if Warren Buffett had held on to the 16 million Apple shares for another quarter, he would have made somewhere between $2 billion to $4.5 billion.

While answering shareholder questions at Berkshire’s annual meeting, Warren Buffett suggested that the sale of Apple stocks was for tax reasons.

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He said, “It doesn’t bother me in the least to write that check and I would really hope with all that America’s done for all of you, it shouldn’t bother you that we do it and if I’m doing it at 21% this year and we’re doing it a little higher percentage later on, I don’t think you’ll actually mind the fact that we sold a little Apple this year."