Warren Buffett says he sold one stock too soon and would like to buy more of it, 'but not in this market'

While Warren Buffett has certainly experienced several big wins in his career, the legendary investor isn’t shy when it comes to sharing his mistakes.

Speaking with CNBC in his first televised interview since stepping down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett admitted to making a mistake in the way he handled Berkshire’s stake in Apple (1).

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‘I sold it too soon’

During the interview with CNBC’s Becky Quick, Buffett said, “I sold it too soon,” referring to Berkshire’s decision to trim its Apple stake down to $61.96 billion at the end of 2025 (1). Despite this move, Apple still remains Berkshire’s largest holding, a position that likely had an effect on the decision to sell Apple.

“I’m very happy to have it [Apple] be our largest holding,” said Buffett. “I was not happy to have it be as large as almost everything else combined.”

Following his apparently regretful decision to sell, Buffett said he’s more than willing to correct Berkshire’s error and increase the company’s stake in the iPhone maker. But the timing has to be right.

“It’s not impossible that Apple would get to a price, we would buy a lot of it,” Buffett said. “But not in this market.”

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Why increasing Berkshire’s Apple stake will have to wait

While he appears to be eager to add to Berkshire’s Apple position, Buffett said such a move would make sense only if the price were to drop.

As he explained to Quick, Apple stock is still rather unattractive, even after it fell nearly 15% from its recent high, CNBC reports. In fact, despite Apple dropping more than 6% in March, Buffett still believes it’s not a good time for Berkshire to add to its position. (2).

Buffett’s comments on Apple’s stock were delivered during a volatile time for the broad US stock market, which continues to be impacted by the war in Iran. Equities, however, bounced back relatively well during the holiday-shortened trading week ending April 2, with the S&P 500, the Dow and the Nasdaq all trending upward following a five-week slide. The S&P 500 advanced 3.4%, while the Dow and Nasdaq advanced 3% and 4.4%, respectively (2).

That momentum continued in early trading on April 6, amid reports that Iran, the US and a group of regional mediators are discussing a 45-day ceasefire that could potentially reopen the Strait of Hormuz while building a path to ending the war.

Buffett’s other regrets

This isn’t the first time Buffett has been open about having regrets regarding Berkshire’s moves. During Berkshire’s annual meeting back in 2001, the Oracle of Omaha was asked about the worst investment he’s ever made and was quick to provide an answer.

“The biggest mistakes are the ones that actually don’t show up,” he said (3). “They’re the mistakes of omission rather than commission.”

As he explained to the audience, Berkshire “never lost that much money on any one investment.” The holding company, however, has occasionally missed out on big gains due to a failure to act when it should have.

“We have missed profits of maybe $10 billion in things that I knew enough to do, and I didn’t do,” Buffett explained.

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Article sources

We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.

CNBC (1, 2); Investor Archive/YouTube (3); Yahoo Finance (4).

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.