Warren Buffett Sells Stocks in His Final Quarter as Berkshire Hathaway CEO: Should You Follow Suit?
Written by
John Csiszar
Edited by
Angela Corry
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In the fourth quarter of 2025, Warren Buffett’s last as the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, the company trimmed or sold stakes in positions that were long associated with being Buffett cornerstones.
According to Berkshire’s Sept. 30, 2025, 10Q filing, the company had a record $381.7 billion cash hoard at the start of the quarter and the Q4 sales only added to it.
Are these ominous signs for everyday investors?
Key Moves by Berkshire in Q4 2025
Here are the most notable buys and sells in the Berkshire portfolio during Buffett’s last quarter:
- Amazon (AMZN): Berkshire sold about 77% of its position in Amazon during Q4 2025.
- Apple (AAPL): The company trimmed its stake in Apple, one of Buffett’s largest holdings, continuing a multi-quarter sell-down.
- Bank of America (BAC): Berkshire also reduced its Bank of America holdings in the same quarter.
- New Position in Media: In contrast to the reductions, Berkshire purchased around $352 million in The New York Times, marking a pivot into traditional media.
Why Berkshire Sold
Buffett’s approach has always emphasized long-term value and disciplined buying, not short-term timing. For this reason, it’s likely that Buffett may not be worried about the near-term futures of companies like Apple and Amazon but rather was focused on valuation and portfolio positioning concerns.
Based on his long-running philosophy, it’s reasonable to infer that Buffett either saw better risk-adjusted opportunities somewhere else or simply was concerned about valuations with prices at current levels.
Should Individual Investors Follow?
There’s no getting around the fact that Berkshire Hathaway’s recent trading patterns could be interpreted by some as being bearish. The company has now been a net seller of equities for 12 months in a row and has suspended buybacks of its own shares over the last five quarters, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, it has continued to build its immense cash position, which is now rapidly approaching $400 billion.
However, individual investors should always take caution when trying to mimic the portfolios of other investors, even heralded experts like Buffett. There could be plenty of reasons why Berkshire has been a net seller of stocks lately — not all of them are necessarily bearish.
It’s also important to note that even though Buffett remained the CEO of Berkshire in Q4 2025, these trades may have been initiated by some of the company’s portfolio managers rather than by Buffett himself.
The bottom line is that personal goals, risk tolerance and time horizon are much more relevant factors to individual portfolio construction than what stocks the Oracle of Omaha is buying and selling. While Buffett’s final quarter sales are noteworthy, thoughtful context, not imitation, should guide your next investment decisions.
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