Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett gave Apple glowing reviews during Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholders meeting Saturday. “Our criteria for Apple was different than the other businesses we own — It just happens to be better business than any we own,” Buffett said. He also called the iPhone “an extraordinary product.” “We don’t have anything like that that we owned 100% of, but we’re very, very happy to have 5.6 or whatever-it-may-be percent, and we’re delighted every 10th of a percent that goes up.” To be sure, Buffett clarified Berkshire doesn’t have 35% of its holdings in Apple — as a questioner incorrectly believed. Still, the tech giant is one the stars among Berkshire’s holdings. “We want to own good businesses and we also want to have plenty of liquidity. And beyond that, the sky’s the limit,” Buffett noted. The legendary investor, known by many as “The Oracle of Omaha” for his investment acumen, also shared his thoughts on some of the conglomerate’s other holdings. Check them out below. TSMC Buffett said he thinks TSMC is a preeminent player in the semiconductor space. However, he sold some of his shares in the chipmaker due to geopolitical concerns. “Taiwan Semiconductor is one of the best-managed companies and important companies in the world. And I think you’ll be able to say the same thing five, or 10, or 20 years from now. I don’t like its location and reevaluated that. … There’s nobody in the chip industry, in their league, or at least in my view.” Bank of America Bank of America is Berkshire’s sole bank holding, and Buffett said he plans to stick with it. “I like Bank of America, I liked the management. … So, I stick with it. But do I know how to project out what’s going to happen from here? The answer is I don’t, because I’ve seen so many things in the last few months, which really weren’t that unexpected to me to see.” Paramount Buffett said that, while he’s “not in the business of giving stock advice to people,” Paramount ‘s dividend cut is not good news. “It’s not good news when any company cuts its dividend dramatically. And the streaming businesses extremely interesting to watch because people love to use their eyeballs being entertained on a screen in front of them. … But there’s a lot of companies doing it.” Occidental Petroleum Buffett dispelled rumors that Berkshire plans on taking full control of the oil giant, of which Berkshire currently has more than a 20% stake. “We will not be making any offer for control of Occidental , but we love the shares we have. We may or may not own more in the future, but we certainly have warrants on what we got on the original deal on a very substantial amount of stock around $59 a share, and warrants last a long time, and I’m glad we have them.” Activision Blizzard The investor said that Microsoft has been more than cooperative with British regulators — w hich blocked its acquisition of video game publisher Activision Blizzard . However, Buffett added he isn’t positive if the deal can go through. “I think Microsoft has been remarkably willing to cooperate with governing bodies. … The opposition that seems to need more than halfway. … That doesn’t get solved by offering more money or so. I don’t know how it [will] turn out. But if it doesn’t go through, I don’t think it’s through any shortcoming by Microsoft or Activision. But not everything that should happen, has happened.”
