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Buffett's Final Masterpiece: Q4 Sees Further Sale of Apple and Bank of America Shares, Significant Reduction in Amazon Holdings, and First-Time Addition of The New York Times

wallstreetcn ·  Feb 18 06:25

Berkshire Hathaway has reduced its Apple holdings for three consecutive quarters, with the market value of its Apple holdings decreasing by $2.8 billion in Q4, although it remains the largest holding; Bank of America's holdings have decreased by 50% over the past one and a half years, yet it is still the third-largest position; Amazon's holdings were reduced by 2.3 million shares quarter-over-quarter, representing a 77% decline; newly acquired more than 5.06 million shares of The New York Times, valued at $352 million; Chevron's stake was increased by $1.23 billion, while Chubb Ltd holdings rose by more than 9%. The New York Times' shares surged over 10% in after-hours trading.

Berkshire Hathaway continued to adjust its holdings in technology giants during the last quarter before Warren Buffett stepped down as CEO, reducing stakes in several major positions while establishing a new position in traditional media for the first time. $New York Times (NYT.US)$

On Tuesday, February 17, Eastern Time, after the US stock market closed, a 13F filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed that Berkshire significantly reduced its holdings in the fourth quarter of 2025. $Amazon (AMZN.US)$ by more than 77% and cut its stake for the third consecutive quarter. $Apple (AAPL.US)$ Berkshire also continued to sell its shares in $Bank of America (BAC.US)$ , reducing its ownership in the bank to just below 7%.

$New York Times (NYT.US)$ was the only new stock added to Berkshire's portfolio in the fourth quarter, with over 5.06 million shares purchased, valued at approximately $352 million. Following the announcement, The New York Times' stock price rose more than 10% in after-hours trading.

This Tuesday marked the release of the final document under Buffett's leadership after 60 years at the helm of Berkshire Hathaway.13F filing reportBuffett’s successor, Greg Abel, officially assumed the role of CEO on January 1, 2026. Berkshire Hathaway is set to announce its annual results on February 28, which will include Abel’s first letter to shareholders as CEO.

Continued Reductions in Apple and Bank of America

According to the 13F filing, Berkshire sold over 10.29 million shares of Apple in the fourth quarter, reducing its holding by 4.3% compared to the third quarter. By the end of the quarter, the value of Apple's holdings had decreased by approximately $2.8 billion sequentially, with its proportion in Berkshire's investment portfolio dropping from 22.69% in Q3 to 22.60%.

In terms of sequential declines in market value, Apple was the stock that Berkshire reduced the most in Q4, but the scale of the reduction was smaller than in the previous quarter. In Q3, Berkshire cut its Apple stake by about 41.79 million shares, a decrease of over 14.9% sequentially.

Despite ongoing reductions, Apple remained Berkshire's largest holding by the end of the fourth quarter.

Bank of America was another major holding that Berkshire continued to reduce. In the fourth quarter, Berkshire sold nearly 50.8 million shares of Bank of America, decreasing its stake by 8.9%, with the holding ratio falling to 6.89%.

By the end of the fourth quarter, Bank of America remained Berkshire’s third-largest holding. However, Berkshire’s stake in the bank has dropped from 1.03 billion shares in mid-2024 to 517 million shares, representing an approximate 50% reduction over the past year and a half.

Amazon Stake Drops Sharply by 77%

Based on changes in portfolio weight, Amazon was the stock with the largest reduction in Berkshire Hathaway's holdings during the fourth quarter.

The 13F filing shows that Amazon's share in Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio fell sharply from 0.82% in Q3 to 0.19% in Q4, a sequential decline of 0.63 percentage points. The number of shares held dropped to approximately 2.3 million, representing a sequential decrease of over 77.2%.

Berkshire Hathaway first purchased Amazon shares in 2019. At the time, Buffett stated that although he had traditionally been cautious about technology stocks, not buying shares of the online retail giant earlier was 'foolish.'

Amazon's stock price has fallen by about 11% since the beginning of 2026, marking its largest year-to-date decline in two decades. This Tuesday, Amazon just ended a nine-day losing streak, the longest consecutive daily declines since 2006.

Over the past nine trading days as of last Friday, Amazon’s market capitalization shrank by more than $450 billion, reflecting investor skepticism about the justification for Amazon’s substantial AI-related expenditures. On the 5th of this month, Amazon revealed in its Q4 earnings report that it plans to spend $200 billion on capital expenditures in 2026, an annual investment scale surpassing that of any other tech giant.

Initiated position in The New York Times

The New York Times was the only new position initiated by Berkshire Hathaway in the fourth quarter. During the quarter, Berkshire purchased 5.067 million shares, valued at over $352 million, representing approximately 3.1% of The New York Times’ shares. This holding ranks 30th in Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio, accounting for 0.13% of its total investments.

Berkshire had long held media-related stocks but sold its newspaper business for $140 million to $Lee Enterprises (LEE.US)$ in 2020. Buffett once served as the largest external shareholder and board member of The Washington Post.

The New York Times’ stock price has performed strongly recently, rising 6% this year, currently near its historical high of $74.59, with a cumulative increase of 50% over the past 12 months.

Increase in Chevron and Chubb Ltd Holdings

In Q4, Berkshire Hathaway increased its stakes in the oil giant Chevron (CVX.US) and the insurer $Chubb Ltd (CB.US)$, raising their respective ownership percentages to 6.5% and 8.7%.

Among these, Berkshire added nearly 2.92 million shares of Chubb Ltd, with the total share count growing by 9.3% quarter-on-quarter. The proportion of Chubb Ltd within the portfolio increased from 3.31% in Q3 to 3.90%, up by 0.59 percentage points sequentially. In terms of the increase in holding ratio, Chubb Ltd saw the largest rise among individual stock positions during Q4.

Berkshire bought in the fourth quarter.$Chevron (CVX.US)$ More than 8.09 million shares, representing a 6.6% increase in shareholding on a quarter-over-quarter basis, with the ownership stake rising by 0.15 percentage points to 7.24%. The market value increased by approximately $1.23 billion quarter-over-quarter. In terms of the growth in market value of holdings, Chevron was the top addition in the fourth quarter.

The company also increased its holdings by 368,000 shares.$Domino's Pizza (DPZ.US)$With a 12.3% quarter-over-quarter increase in holdings, the total position rose to approximately $1.4 billion, ranking 20th.

$The Kraft Heinz (KHC.US)$Holdings remained unchanged.

Abel recently expressed his support for The Kraft Heinz's decision to suspend the spin-off of its condiments and grocery business. In a regulatory filing in January, The Kraft Heinz disclosed that its largest shareholder, Berkshire Hathaway, might sell nearly all of its 325.6 million shares. Last year, Buffett told The Wall Street Journal that Berkshire did not support the spin-off plan.

According to SEC regulations, institutional investors managing at least $100 million in U.S. equities must file a Form 13F within 45 days after the end of each quarter. Although these filings provide outdated information on holdings, the disclosures from Berkshire are still widely analyzed by market participants seeking insights into the company’s investment decisions.

The top ten holdings remained the same as the previous period.

By the end of the fourth quarter, measured by the value of holdings, all of Berkshire Hathaway’s top ten holdings were the same as in the previous quarter. Most rankings were consistent with the third quarter, except for the positions of Moody's and $Occidental Petroleum (OXY.US)$switched places.

As in the third quarter, among these major holdings in the fourth quarter, only four saw adjustments: Apple, $American Express (AXP.US)$were reduced, while Chevron and Chubb Ltd were increased.

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, which entered the top ten for the first time in Q3, remains in tenth place. The kidney dialysis provider that was pushed out of the top ten by Alphabet in Q3$DaVita (DVA.US)$is still ranked 11th in Q4.

The top ten holdings of Berkshire in Q4 are as follows:

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