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Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has $234.6 billion worth of short-term investments in U.S. Treasury bills, the massive conglomerate’s second-quarter earnings report Saturday showed.
With Berkshire buying up $229.5 billion in Treasury bills (also known as T-bills) and fixed maturity securities in the first six months of the year, it surpassed the Federal Reserve in its investment into the bills. The Fed reported last week that it holds $195.3 billion in the bills.
Buffett has always been a fan of T-bills. At the annual Berkshire conference in May, the 93-year-old investor called them “the safest investment there is.”
Treasury bills are short-term securities issued — and backed — by the U.S. government. They are issued in maturities ranging from four weeks to 52 weeks, at a minimum purchase amount of $100. The bills then increase in value to pay off their entire face value at maturity.
Returns on the bills aren’t typically as big as what investors see from more risky investments like stocks. But with the Fed keeping interest rates in the 5.25% to 5.5% range, returns on the bills have risen. As of Aug. 2, three-month bills have a 5.05% return rate; six-month bills are at 4.68%, and 12-month bills bring in 4.18%.
Berkshire’s earnings report also revealed that it halved its stake in Apple, holding $84.2 billion in the iPhone-maker’s stock — down from $174.3 billion it owned at the start of the year. The Omaha-based holding company has reduced its stake in Apple for three consecutive quarters now. Still, Apple remains Berkshire’s biggest stock investment, followed by Bank of America Corporation ($41.1 billion) and the American Express Company ($35.1 billion), as of June 30. Buffett also sold off nearly $4 billion in Bank of America stock in a 12-day period late last month.
With these massive stock sales totaling roughly $75 billion, the legendary investor known as the “Oracle of Omaha” grew his cash pile to a record $276.9 billion last quarter, the filing showed.
