OMAHA — Warren Buffett says his company has bought about $10.7 billion worth of IBM stock this year, giving it a stake of more than 5 percent in the company.
Buffett revealed the investment Monday on CNBC. Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, planned to file a full quarterly update on its U.S. stock portfolio Monday afternoon.
Buffett has long refused to invest in tech companies because he has said it’s too difficult to predict which technology businesses will prosper in the long run. But Buffett said he recently realized his view of IBM was wrong.
“Now they’re very much a services company, and they’re very intertwined with their customers,” he said.
So Berkshire has purchased about 64 million shares since March, or about 5.5 percent of IBM.
Andy Kilpatrick, the stockbroker-author of “Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett,” said it appears that Buffett spotted something in plain sight that he had previously overlooked.
