Buffett Trims Berkshire's Stake in Amazon by 77% in Q4, Adds New York Times to Portfolio Before Stepping Down

According to the latest quarterly filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Berkshire Hathaway heavily sold shares of Amazon and Apple, as well as added The New York Times to its massive $274 billion portfolio.

Buffett executed these trades before stepping down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. However, he remains the board chairman of the company.

In Q4, Berkshire offloaded 7.7 million shares of Amazon, lowering its stake in the ecommerce giant by 77.2%. Berkshire now holds 2.2 million Amazon shares after the sale, worth $466.9 million based on Wednesday's closing price of $204.79 per share.

Buffett also sold 10.2 million shares of Apple, lowering its stake in the iPhone maker by 4.3% in Q4. In a major move, he also divested 50.7 million shares of Bank of America, or 8.94% of its stake in the financial institution, last quarter.

Buffett cut Berkshire's stake in Apple for the third consecutive quarter as the stock continues to underperform the S&P 500. He has long viewed Apple as more of a consumer products company instead of a pure tech play. Overall, Apple and BofA remain among the top three holdings of Berkshire Hathaway.

In a surprise move, Buffett also purchased over 5 million shares of The New York Times for $351.6 million.

Amazon Stock Continues to Face Selling Pressure

The Amazon stock price fell by over 14.3% in the past month as investors are cashing out after the company's Q4 results missed sales and earnings targets. The results come as Amazon continues to downsize its workforce. The company recently said it would lay off 16,000 employees after trimming headcount by 14,000 in October 2025.

The pressure on the stock price intensified after the company said it plans to increase its 2026 capital expenditure by 52% year-over-year to $200 billion to drive AI-related capacity expansion.

Apple Stock Becoming an Outlier

The Apple stock's correlation with the Nasdaq 100 Index fell to 0.21, implying that the stock price is barely tracking the direction of the Nasdaq, potentially making the Mag 7 stock an outlier. For most of the past decade, Apple's price tended to move in sync with the Nasdaq 100 Index.

The trend could be attributed to limited AI capital spending compared with peers, the stock's defensive appeal during market swings, and a shift in long-term investor sentiment.

The disconnect between Apple's stock price movement and the Nasdaq index is becoming more prominent as shares often hold up or rise while more AI-dependent stocks face volatility during market upheavals.

Despite the company's relatively lower exposure to AI investments, it continues to deliver robust financial results. Amid concerns about overstretched valuations of AI companies, investors could view Apple as a more stable option.

Berkshire began buying Apple stock in 2016, and at its peak in 2023, it owned over 915 million shares worth $174 billion. Although Buffett has steadily trimmed the position in recent years, Apple remains central to Berkshire's stock portfolio.

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