Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett said that the brand allegiance of Apple iPhone users is so strong that they wouldn’t permanently give up their phones for $10,000 and that sort of loyalty is what makes Apple stock a must-own.
Apple is by far the largest equity investment by Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshire owns 915 million Apple shares worth $151 billion with Apple shares unchanged Friday at $165.55. Berkshire owns about 6% of Apple.
Apple represents about 44% of the Berkshire’s equity portfolio of $344 billion, according to a CNBC Berkshire portfolio tracker.
“If you’re an Apple user and somebody offers you $10,000 but the only proviso is that they’ll take away your iPhone and you’ll never be able to buy another, you’re not gonna take it,” Buffett told CNBC earlier this week in an interview from Japan.
Buffett, Berkshire’s 92-year-old CEO, contrasted that customer attitude with the loyalty of auto buyers. Buffett said that if Ford owners were given the same option for $10,000, “you’ll take the $10,000. You’ll buy a Chevy, instead.”
MacDailyNews Take: Only Apple makes real iPhones — and real Macs and real iPads.
Please help support MacDailyNews. Click or tap here to support our independent tech blog. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
He’s correct. If someone offered me $10,000 for me to give up my iPhone and never buy another, I’d turn that person down, flat. If someone offered me $100,000 with the same stipulations, I’d have to think about it, but most likely would still turn the deal down. Now, if they offered $500,000 or more cash up front for the same deal, I’d take it. I’d still buy Macs and other Apple products, but no more iPhones.
I have always believed that anyone can be bought for the right price. For some people it’s money. For some it’s risk to, or assured safety of, family. For some it’s region. For some it’s politics. There’s always a price. Always.
In that perspective, I’d probably do a similar choice, and grab an Watch Ultra in replacement of an iPhone…
And here I am, doing it for free!
Money couldn’t buy off my freedom of choice.
please! make that offer to me.
Amazing , if Warren Buffet embedded into iPhone so much, let’s hope that AAPL up to $200. 😃🍎🍎
$10,000 to never buy an iPhone again? Can I get that non-taxed in bitcoin?
Look at it like this. If you say no, the first iPhone you buy will cost you about $11,500.
Make me that offer, I’ll accept it gladly.
Funny how the lunkheads here are in denial that Tim Coik has transformed an aspirational product into a must have.