After More Than Two Decades, Warren Buffett Sells His Last Walmart Shares
The world’s largest retailer was once one of Berkshire’s five biggest equity holdings as recently as 2014.
(Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett has cut bait on Bentonville.
Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has sold its last Walmart Inc. shares, according to a filing Wednesday, ending a relationship that dates back more two decades. The world’s largest retailer was once one of Berkshire’s five biggest equity holdings as recently as 2014, valued at more than $5 billion, but Amazon.com Inc.’s encroachment since then has prompted Berkshire to pare down that stake. Walmart shares have risen 2.8 percent this year, compared with Amazon’s 37 percent boost.
Buffett has long highlighted the vulnerability of iconic retailers, citing Sears, F.W. Woolworth and Montgomery Ward as merchants that lost their dominant positions. More recently, he’s focused on the threat from companies like Amazon that sell everything from food to clothes and electronic gadgets online. While Buffett is known for sticking with stocks like Coca-Cola Co. for decades, he’s not wedded to favorites when circumstances change.
Buffett has a long history with the retailer, buying its McLane food-distribution business in 2003. Berkshire disclosed a stake of 19.9 million shares in 2005 and doubled the holding by the end of 2009. The company is ditching Walmart at a time when the retailer is investing billions to keep pace with Amazon online.
Berkshire Vice Chairman Charles Munger has publicly regretted being late to recognize Walmart’s dominance, and has said he should have invested in the retailer sooner. In selling, Berkshire hopes its timing is better this time around.
To contact the reporters on this story: Matthew Boyle in New York at mboyle20@bloomberg.net;Brandon Kochkodin in New York at bkochkodin@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Crayton Harrison at tharrison5@bloomberg.net, Lisa Wolfson, Anne Riley Moffat
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