Warren Buffett boosts Big Tech bets as other billionaires dump stocks

Berkshire Hathaway boss Warren Buffett doubled down on his Big Tech bets during the second quarter – even as other billionaire investors sold off their holdings as fears mounted about a market crash.

The firm headed by the “Oracle of Omaha” added nearly four million shares of Apple stock during the three-month period ending in June, an SEC filing late Monday revealed.

At the time, the tech-heavy Nasdaq had fallen into a bear market, defined as a decline of 20% or more off a recent high.

The bet increased Berkshire Hathaway’s stake to 894.8 million shares of Apple, which represents its largest individual holding.

Berkshire also boosted its stake in giant Amazon, adding another 10 million shares, as well as video game giant Activision Blizzard. The firm also poured billions into oil producers Occidental Petroleum and Chevron while shedding shares of General Motors and Verizon.

Berkshire slowed the pace of its purchases as market conditions worsened in the second quarter, adding just $6 billion of stock compared to $51 billion in additions during the first quarter, according to Barron’s.

But the bullish activity stood in contrast to that of other hedge fund managers who have dump stock holdings in droves as the Federal Reserve’s policy tightening prompts concern about an economic recession.

Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller was one of the prominent bears. His Duquesne Family Office sold off the entirety of its entire $199 million bet on Amazon shares in the second quarter, according to its 13-F filing. The office also cut back on its Microsoft position.

“My best guess is that we’re six months into a bear market,” Druckenmiller said during a June 9 at the 2022 Sohn Investment Conference, according to Bloomberg. “For those tactically trading, it’s possible the first leg of that has ended. But I think it’s highly, highly probable that the bear market has a ways to run.”

While cutting back on Big Tech giants, Duquesne added a $96.3 million stake in Eli Lilly and a $29.7 million in Moderna Inc.

Mega-billionaire David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management and Dan Loeb’s Third Point were among firms that sold shares of Microsoft – with the latter dumping its entire position.

Investors are cutting their exposure to volatile assets, such as some high-growth tech stocks and cryptocurrencies, as the Fed moves forward with sharper-than-normal interest rate hikes.

Michael Burry, the hedge fund wizard made famous in the 2015 film “The Big Short,” opted to dump his firm Scion Capital Management’s entire stock portfolio in the second quarter, including shares of Facebook parent Meta and Google parent Alphabet.

The selloff occurred as Burry repeatedly warned that US stocks were set for a major downturn in the coming months.