Someone at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has been buying stock in Amazon.com Inc., but “it wasn’t me,” Warren Buffett says.
Speaking Thursday to CNBC, the billionaire founder and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway BRK.A, -0.52% BRK.B, -0.36% said: “One of the fellows in the office that manage money ... bought some Amazon, so it will show up” in a filing later this month.
That suggests the purchases were made by Todd Combs or Ted Weschler, who run their portfolios independently of Buffett. He did not say how many shares the investing company bought. Buffett and his company are well known for buying value stocks, and many investors keep a close eye on the companies he invests in.
Buffett has previously praised Amazon AMZN, -0.56% , but had not personally bought in — largely because he says it’s out of his area of expertise. He still hasn’t bought any personally, he told CNBC, though he acknowledged he probably should have at some point.
“I’ve been a fan, and I’ve been an idiot for not buying,” Buffett said. “But I want you to know it’s no personality changes taking place.”
Last year, Berkshire, Amazon and JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, +0.22% launched a joint venture to improve health care for their employees.
While he’s not into Amazon, Buffett isn’t averse to big tech stocks. Berkshire took its first position in Apple Inc. AAPL, -0.65% in 2016, and eventually built up a 5% stake in the tech giant, which was worth almost $60 billion as of September 2018. That stake has since been reduced — the company trimmed its Apple holdings by 1%, or about 2.89 million shares, in the December-ended quarter, and Buffett said in February that he hasn’t been buying shares.
Buffett will speak at Berkshire’s annual meeting Saturday in Omaha, Neb., where he will present his always-anticipated annual letter to shareholders.
Read: This investor’s pilgrimage to Berkshire’s annual meeting is about more than Buffett
Berkshire Hathaway Class B stock is up nearly 6% year to date and 12% over the past 12 months, compared to the S&P 500’s SPX, -0.21% gains of 16% and 11%, respectively, over those periods. Amazon shares, meanwhile, are up 27% this year and 21% over the past year.
