Buffett’s Offloading of Stock in BYD Tops $500 Million Mark

Sales by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in Chinese electric carmaking giant BYD Co. have cracked the $500 million mark.

(Bloomberg) — Sales by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in Chinese electric carmaking giant BYD Co. have cracked the $500 million mark.

Berkshire Hathaway sold some 1.55 million of the Hong Kong-listed shares on Jan. 27, according to an exchange filing Thursday, raising HK$351.8 million ($45 million). That brings the investment house’s holding in BYD down to 12.9% from around 20% originally, leaving it with 141.6 million shares outstanding.

Read more: China’s BYD Reports Better-Than-Expected Profit on EV Boom

Since Buffett’s firm started selling in August last year, there have been eight substantial transactions disclosed, raising HK$3.97 billion, including the latest one.

BYD has managed to largely shrug off the drawn-out exit of its famous backer, however. 

The Shenzhen-based carmaker, which also produces its own EV batteries and chips, said earlier this week it expects net income may come in as high as 17 billion yuan ($2.5 billion) for last year, an increase of as much as 458% from 2021.

BYD also sold 1.86 million new EVs in 2022, more than the previous four years combined.

Shares in BYD, which slumped 28% in 2022, are up 36% this year alone.

 

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