Berkshire Hathaway 'probably' made $50 billion on Apple stock in 2020

A new report says Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway investment firm likely made some $50 billion on its Apple investments in 2020.

From Business Insider:

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway likely scored a $50 billion gain on its Apple investment in 2020, lifting its total paper profits from the technology bet to north of $90 billion in less than five years. The famed investor's company plowed about $35 billion into the iPhone maker between 2016 and 2018, securing a roughly 5.5% stake. Apple's climbing stock price more than doubled the value of Berkshire's position to about $72 billion at the start of 2020, then boosted it to $109 billion by the end of September, despite Buffett and his team selling close to 4% of their stake in the third quarter.

The 'probably' is predicated on Berkshire not having sold any more of its Apple shares in the final quarter of 2020. If it didn't, its Apple holding will now be worth around $125 billion thanks to 78% growth in the last year, increasing by $50 billion in 12 months and some 250% on its initial investment.

As of September, Apple accounted for 48% of BH's $229 billion portfolio and more than 20% of its market cap.

As the report notes, Buffet has previously stated he doesn't think of Apple as a "stock" but as his "third business" alongside rail and insurance.

Apple announced a 4-for-1 stock split on July 30 following strong results. Despite a rocky start to the year which saw its shares plummet 20% in the opening two months of 2020, Apple finished the year strongly, buoyed most recently by reports it was vastly increasing iPhone production this year to keep up with demand.