Buffett’s Berkshire completely exits BYD, selling all remaining shares as the Chinese automaker faces slowdown
Berkshire Hathaway fully exited its stake in BYD after a 3,890% surge in the last 17 years. A BYD executive commented on the move as normal”.
Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway invested in BYD in 2008, following a recommendation from his close friend and late colleague, Charlie Munger. The initial investment was 230 million USD as the company acquired 225 million shares at 8 HKD (1.03 USD) per share.
Berkshire’s BYD investment was attributed to Charlie Munger’s strong advocacy, MSN reports. At the 2009 annual shareholders’ meeting, Munger said, “Warren and I might seem crazy, but I view the company and CEO Wang Chuanfu as ‘miracle workers.’”
Buffett began exiting BYD in August 2022, decreasing its stake from 20.04% to 19.92%. At that time, BYD said to local media, there is “no need to overinterpret it.“
Today, BYD brand General Manager Li Yunfei said, “Stock investment is about buying and selling, which is a normal thing,” Li said on Weibo. Li also thanked Munger and Buffet for recognising BYD and appreciated their investment and support over the past 17 years.
The selling continued through the next three years, as in 2024 Berkshire reduced its stake to under 5%, resulting in no longer being required to disclose its stake in the company.
As reported today by CNBC, on March 31, BYD liquidated its remaining share in BYD, bringing its stake to zero, ending its 17-year China EV story. During the investment period, BYD’s stock price increased by 3,890%.
BYD is currently in the middle of a fierce price war and overcompetition in China. It launched or relaunched three new brands in the last year (Denza, Fang Cheng Bao, and Yangwang) to move its portfolio upmarket; however, its sales started to stagnate in the previous two months after years of uninterrupted growth.
In July, BYD sold 341,030 passenger vehicles globally, up only 0.1% from last year. In August, the company sold 371,501 cars, up only 0.2% from last year. This is the lowest year-over-year growth since January 2021, when China EV Datatracker monitored BYD sales.
Meanwhile, passenger EV (BEV+PHEV) sales grew 12.4% year-over-year in July to 987,000 units and 7.2% to 1,101,000 units in August.
According to sources, BYD has internally reduced its previously announced annual sales target of 5.5 million to 4.6 million for 2025. Between January and August, BYD sold 2,830,415 passenger vehicles globally, according to data monitored by China EV DataTracker.
