Warren Buffett is usually cautious when it comes to investing in the technology sector, but that changed Friday as Berkshire Hathaway Inc. started to buy shares in Amazon.com Inc.
Since the beginning of the year, Amazon share prices have risen nearly 27%.
The investing giant told Bloomberg that one of his investment managers has made the purchases, which will show up on Securities and Exchange Commission filings later this month.
News of the share purchases helped shoot the price of Amazon stock up over 3% by early Friday afternoon. Shares of the online retail company were up to $1,961.74 per share.
Since the beginning of the year, Amazon share prices have risen nearly 27%.
The move by Buffett to invest in Amazon is intriguing as he has not made much of an effort to purchase technology stocks telling Bloomberg, “he didn’t understand the products and markets well enough.”
One reason stems from a $10 billion investment in International Business Machines Corp. in 2011. Buffett sold nearly all his shares in IBM in 2018 at a loss. His one significant profitable venture in technology came in 2016 when Buffett purchased shares of Apple Inc. Those shares have increased in value as Apple shares closed Thursday at $209.15.
As of early Friday afternoon, shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. were trading at $327,820, up more than 1%.
Berkshire Hathaway also held a $2.1 billion stake in Oracle Corp. in the third quarter of 2018, but sold that stake the very next quarter.
The recent buy-in further strengthens Berkshire Hathaway’s relationship with Amazon as the two companies, along with JPMorgan & Chase Co. have partnered in a health collaboration.
In an interview with CNBC, Buffett said he was “a fan” of Amazon and that he was “an idiot for not buying” shares in the company earlier.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. will have its annual shareholders meeting Saturday in Omaha, Nebraska.
