Warren Buffett Sells $47 Million Stake In BYD

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Warren Buffett Sells $47 Million Stake In BYD
01 Sep 2022
6 min read

News Synopsis

The stock of BYD, the largest manufacturer of electric vehicles in the world, fell about 13% on Wednesday after Berkshire Hathaway, the investment company run by billionaire Warren Buffett, reduced its stakes in the firm.

According to a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Berkshire sold 1.33 million shares in the automaker—less than 1% of its investment in BYD—for about $47 million. Many people believe that Buffett will shortly sell all of his shares in BYD.

The transaction took place as BYD this week announced better-than-anticipated results for the first half of the year, recording $21.7 billion in revenue, or about 66% more than the same time the previous year. Buffett sold his stock as China's BYD Auto overtook Elon Musk's Tesla as the top-selling EV brand in Q2 2022 for the first time.

BYD Auto shipped more than 354,000 EVs in Q2, a 266 percent YoY increase. In March 2022, the firm officially stopped making and selling cars with internal combustion engines. Since then, it has been concentrating on the development of BEVs and PHEVs. The business is gradually entering the European market. It is planning to launch operations in Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands after previously doing so in Norway.

In terms of EV sales, China continued to lead the market, followed by Europe and the US. From just 0.64 million units in Q2 2021, China's EV sales climbed by about 92 percent YoY to reach 1.24 million units.

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