Warren Buffett gained $13 billion amid Wall Street carnage that wiped out trillions – Decoding his strategy

Warren Buffett has done it again. Over the last two days at the US stock markets, investors have lost $5 trillion in investments after Donald Trump announced a slew of tariffs on 184 countries. But not Warren Buffett. In contrast, the Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO has remained in profit with his investments at the company.

It is not surprising though. Over the years, Buffett has had a laser focus on capital preservation. Here is how Warren Buffett remained largely unaffected even though US stock markets crashed to its lowest since March 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic gripped the world.

Warren Buffett’s net worth

Legendary investor Warren Buffett has interestingly added $12.7 billion to his net worth this year, pushing it to $155 billion. What’s more interesting is that he has done it at a time when stock markets are volatile due to President Donald Trump’s trade war fuelled by his tariff impositions that have instilled recession fears across the world.

In comparison, Elon Musk has lost $130 billion wealth year-to-date, bringing his net worth down to $302 billion. Jeff Bezos on the other hand lost $45.2 billion, his net worth plummeting to $193 billion.

On Thursday itself, a day after Trump’s announcement, 500 richest people in the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index lost a combined wealth of $208 billion, marking its fourth-worst day in its 13-year history.

Warren Buffett’s investments that keep him profitable

The value-oriented investor has long complained about market valuations being too high, and has refrained from using his cash on major acquisitions. This time, Warren Buffett had predicted an impending market downturn.

In 2024, his company sold $134 billion in equities and was sitting on a record $334 billion cash pile at the end of the year. That time, the bull markets were raging.

According to a report by Fortune, Berkshire Hathaway has invested most of its cash in short-term Treasury bills, which have not only provided immunity from bleeding markets now but has also provided a profit to investors at the company.

Buffett in his most recent letter in February explained the rationale behind his decision.

“We were aided by a predictable large gain in investment income as Treasury Bill yields improved and we substantially increased our holdings of these highly-liquid short-term securities,” he told investors in the letter.

Warren Buffett sold Apple stocks

The profits that Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett made also comes from the stocks that he sold ahead of the market crash.

Berkshire cut its stake in Apple by two-thirds last year. While Apple still remains its largest stock holding, most of the company’s equities were sold.

These stock sales came over the first three quarters of the previous year, when Apple was still on the rise.

While Apple shares peaked in December, the iPhone maker’s stock price has crashed 28 per cent since then. The company is predicted to lose more as US tariffs hit China hard, with tech companies like Apple who have manufacturing units there set to bear the brunt.

US tariffs and market crash

Since Donald Trump announced a series of tariffs on Wednesday, markets have fallen significantly, with the S&P 500 crashing 10 per cent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq and the small-cap Russell 2000 are in bear market territory. Over Thursday and Friday, investors have lost $5 trillion wealth cumulatively as recession fears result in an impending bear market.

Trump has announced a baseline tariff of 10 per cent on all countries trading with the US, with bigger punishments for countries he believes charges America higher levies. China has been slapped with a 34 per cent tariff, while India faces levies of 26 per cent.