I did a rough tabulation (not perfectly apples-to-apples—some foreign stocks, some recent buys and trims) but good enough for an estimate. Below is the table of the stock returns in Berkshire’s portfolio:

Buffett famously avoids tech. He sticks to what he understands—consumer brands like Coca-Cola, American Express, and Kraft Heinz. And as we’ve discussed in a previous post, non-AI stocks have had a rough year, so it’s no surprise Berkshire’s portfolio underperformed the tech-dominated S&P 500.

I doubt it’s because Buffett is predicting a crash. He’s never cared about timing markets. He’s repeatedly said he doesn’t invest based on forecasts.

One possible reason: succession planning. Buffett may be clearing the slate for Greg Abel and the investment managers to build their own portfolios. Every investor has their own style, and maybe Buffett didn’t want to leave them stuck with his legacy positions. Selling early also avoids shocking the market with massive one-time exits.

As Nvidia’s market cap soars past $5 trillion, Jensen Huang has become a global ico and everything he touches turns to gold.

Finally the  euphoria didn’t last. Kyochon and Cherrybro gave back their gains. The only one still holding up is Neuromeka, which makes chicken-frying robots. It’s up nearly 20% in the past week—probably the closest thing to AI in that sector.