JAKARTA - Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett gave rare praise to Apple CEO Tim Cook in Berkshire's annual meeting of shareholders on Saturday 3 May. Buffett also confirmed that he would resign from office.
"I'm a bit embarrassed to say that Tim Cook has made more money for Berkshire than I ever made," Buffett told the audience. This refers to Apple's 680% stock spike since Berkshire first started buying shares of the company in early 2016.
Buffett also remembers the late Steve Jobs and praised his role in building Apple, but quickly emphasized Tim Cook's great contribution in bringing the company to its current level of success.
"No one can create Apple other than Steve, but also no one can develop it like the team did," Buffett continued.
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The 94-year-old investor, who has been known to be wary of investing in the technology sector, admits that he has made billions of dollars from his investment in Apple. In fact, at one point in 2024, Buffett is Apple's biggest investor outside the Exchange-Trad Funds (ETF) company.
In 2024, Berkshire's share ownership value in Apple reached 174 billion US dollars, which was originally earned for about 40 billion US dollars over the years. Even so, Berkshire has started reducing its holdings over the past year, and has now sold nearly 70% of its total 905 million shares at its peak.
Since Tim Cook served as CEO in 2011, Apple's share price has jumped from less than 15 US dollars (after adjusting it to a stock split) to around 205 US dollars. The nearly 14-fold increase has pushed Apple's market cap beyond $3 trillion.
There’s never been someone like Warren, and countless people, myself included, have been inspired by his wisdom. It’s been one of the great privileges of my life to know him. And there’s no question that Warren is leaving Berkshire in great hands with Greg. pic.twitter.com/7p5zXtq5hP
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) May 3, 2025
There's never been someone like Warren, and countingless people, myself included, have been inspired by his wisdom. It's been one of the great privileges of my life to know him. And there's no question that Warren is leaving Berkshire in great hands with Greg. pic.twitter.com/7p5zXtq5hP
Buffett, nicknamed Oracle of air and considered the most successful investor in the world, announced that he would hand over Berkshire's leadership to deputy chairman Greg Abel by the end of this year.
Through the X account (formerly Twitter), Tim Cook expressed his respect:
"There's never been anyone like Warren, and countless people, including myself, were inspired by his wisdom. It was a great honor in my life to know him. And there's no doubt that Warren left Berkshire in the right hands with Greg."
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