Warren Buffett is a long-term value investor who has invested hundreds of billions of dollars in various stocks since becoming CEO of Berkshire Hathaway in 1965. One of his biggest bets was Apple, where he put $38 billion into the iPhone maker between 2016 and 2023, making it worth over $170 billion by 2024. But Buffett’s largest investment is actually a stock that’s not even part of Berkshire’s portfolio.
Buffett has invested over $77.8 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock since 2018, more than twice as much as he spent on Apple. This is a significant portion of the company’s market capitalization, which now exceeds $1 trillion. Buffett’s strategy is to invest in companies with steady growth, reliable profits, and strong management teams.
Berkshire owns many successful investments, including Coca-Cola, where Buffett invested $1.3 billion in 1988 and has never sold a single share. Today, that investment is worth over $27 billion and will pay Berkshire $816 million in dividends this year alone. The company also has subsidiaries like Dairy Queen, Duracell, and GEICO Insurance, which provide cash flow for Buffett’s investments.
Since taking control of Berkshire in 1965, its stock has delivered a compound annual return of 19.9%, nearly double the S&P 500 index. If you had invested $1,000 in Berkshire stock in 1965, it would be worth over $44 million today.
Buffett and his team are constantly searching for new investment opportunities, but only a few meet Buffett’s criteria. When he can’t find suitable investments, he returns spare cash to shareholders through buybacks, which has authorized over $77.8 billion in repurchases since 2018. The company’s valuation might be the reason for the pause in buybacks, with its stock trading at a price-to-sales ratio of 2.84.
However, many analysts expect buybacks to resume when the balance of cash and equivalents exceeds $30 billion. With Berkshire sitting on over $344 billion in cash and equivalents, it seems unlikely that Buffett will be waiting long for an opportunity to return money to shareholders.
Source: https://www.fool.com/investing/2025/09/13/1-trillion-stock-warren-buffett-778-billion-2018