Legendary investor Warren Buffett turned 91 on August 30. The ‘Oracle of Omaha,’ as he is often called, has been preparing his company, Berkshire Hathaway, for a new era.

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Berkshire Hathaway’s empire spans multiple companies, sectors and industries. The company, whose stock prices went so high that they started breaking trading computers, has often stayed away from tech companies.

Buffett’s ‘value investing’ has often been at odds with the rapid growth of tech companies, with stocks that would technically be overvalued by traditional metrics. It was this hesitancy that led to Berkshire losing out on the opportunities in the early 2000s to invest in successful tech companies.

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But Buffett has learned since then. Now his company’s stake in Apple is worth 45 percent of its entire portfolio, a massive figure considering that Berkshire Hathaway first bought Apple shares in 2016. Now the company’s entire Apple holding is worth $120 billion.

There are other changes that Buffett has allowed. There was a time when Buffett was famously against IPO and pre-IPO investments, comparing them to the equivalent of winning the lottery. But in recent years, Berkshire Hathaway has become one of the more prominent investors in pre-IPO companies.

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Berkshire Hathaway is one of the principal investors in Paytm, while other investments from Buffett’s company include Brazilian fintech StoneCo, Snowflake, the software company and Nubank’s parent company in Brazil.

While Buffett has increased the company’s exposure to technology, he has reduced the size of his investments in the financial sector. Berkshire has exited positions from JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and PNC Financial.

Buffett’s followers have been waiting for the next big acquisition from Berkshire, something that the company was once famous for. But even though Berkshire’s cash surplus stood at $144 billion, Buffett has not looked for acquisitions, instead opting for share buybacks.

“I think he’s doing a good job of navigating and returning capital to shareholders. He understands that his legacy is going to be appraised not only on what he did the first 50 years but what he did the last five he’s in charge,” said Greggory Warren, Berkshire analyst at Morningstar.

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(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)

First Published:Aug 31, 2021 6:09 PM IST