This morning we learned that Berkshire Hathaway Inc. slashed its stake in Apple Inc. by almost 50% as part of a massive second-quarter selling spree that sent billionaire Warren Buffett’s cash pile to a record $276.9 billion.

In all, Berkshire sold $75.5 billion worth of stock on a net basis in the period, the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate reported Saturday. Operating earnings rose to $11.6 billion, up from $10 billion for the same period a year ago.

Since Berkshire first disclosed its Apple stake in 2016, Buffett has ridden the gains to accumulate a massive paper profit. Berkshire had spent just $31.1 billion for the 908 million of Apple shares it held through the end of 2021. Now his roughly 400 million shares of Apple were valued at $84.2 billion at the end of June.

Buffett said at the May shareholder meeting that Apple was an “even better” business than two others it owns shares in, American Express Co. and Coca-Cola Co. He said at the time that Apple would likely remain its top holding, indicating that tax issues had motivated the sale, “but I don’t mind at all, under current conditions, building the cash position,” he said.

Cupertino, California-based Apple reported this week that sales to China fell 6.5%. Not as draconian as the Canalys report made it out to be, but nonetheless a notable development. The results rekindled fears that Apple is losing ground in one of its most important overseas markets. Apple is up against fiercer competition in the region, and the government has reined in the use of foreign technology in some workplaces. Chinese economic growth also has worsened.

Apple's excuses or rationale, depending on how you view it, attributed much of the decline in fiscal Q3-24 to the effects of a strong dollar, saying that the underlying business in China is actually healthier than before. Three months ago, executives said the slowdown was less about an underperforming iPhone and more about weak sales of other products. For more on this, read the full BNN Bloomberg report.

With Apple pulling the plug on its highly anticipated vehicle project, Vision Pro being half baked and iPhone sales under pressure from Chinese smartphones OEMs delivering more device choices including foldable phones, Apple has got to get back to delivering new innovative devices with designs beyond tweaks to motivate sales. To be sure, the company is hoping that the iPhone 16 with Apple Intelligence will spark a big upgrade cycle that they desperately need. Yet Apple is having problems getting Apple Intelligence approved in China and they could run into problems in Europe over this feature, according CNN and South China Morning Post. 

Lastly, famed Mark Gurman stated in his newsletter this morning that "After testing the first beta version of Apple Intelligence myself, I can tell you that the features don’t yet live up to the excitement. In their current state, they’re a far cry from the game-changing technology that fans and investors hope Apple Intelligence will become."