Berkshire Hathaway is now worth more than Facebook parent Meta

Last week, we noted that for the first time in nearly four years Warren Buffett had passed Mark Zuckerberg in Bloomberg's billionaire ranking.

This week, after Facebook parent Meta Platforms plunged 26% in one day on a disappointing revenue growth forecast, that lead is even bigger. ($114 billion vs. $89 billion)

And with Meta losing a record $232 billion in market value on that one day (Thursday), Berkshire Hathaway is now the sixth most valuable company in the U.S., switching places with seventh place Meta. ($705 billion vs. $645 billion)

That's generated headlines like "Warren Buffett’s long-term focus pays off again as Berkshire Hathaway passes Meta Platforms in value" on CNBC Pro (subscription).

It highlights Buffett's successful bets on Apple, Bank of America, and Japanese trading houses.

CFRA Research analyst Cathy Seifert is quoted as saying, "I think Berkshire’s equity investment strategy, which seems to be bar-belled between select financial and technology names, is an attractive compliment to its operating strategy, which tends to favor value-oriented businesses like insurance, railroads, energy and consumer staples."

The article also suggests "Berkshire's comeback perhaps redeemed Buffett's largely criticized move to sell all of his airline bets at the height of the pandemic" with airline stocks "largely stagnated" after initial gains.

BUFFETT AROUND THE INTERNET

Some links may require a subscription

BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH

BERKSHIRE'S TOP U.S. STOCK HOLDINGS - Feb. 4, 2022

Berkshire's top holdings of disclosed publicly-traded U.S. stocks by market value, based on today's closing prices.

Holdings are as of September 30, 2021 as reported in Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F filing on November 15, 2021, except for Apple, Bank of America, and U.S. Bancorp, which also include shares held as of September 30, 2021 as disclosed in New England Asset Management’s 13F filing on August 16, 2021.

In addition to U.S. stocks, shares held as of December 31, 2020 of China's BYD, as listed in Buffett's 2020 letter to shareholders, are included. The price of those shares in U.S. trading is used to approximate the current market value of the position. The value of the stake as a percentage of the company's market value is fixed at what was listed as of December 31, 2020 in the letter.

The full list of holdings and current market values is available from CNBC.com's Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS

Please send any questions or comments about the newsletter to me at alex.crippen@nbcuni.com. (Sorry, but we don't forward questions or comments to Buffett himself.)

If you aren't already subscribed to this newsletter, you can sign up here.

-- Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch