Warren Buffet seems to be overcoming his aversion to technology.
Having spent his career as a billionaire investor steering clear of computing brands, he revealed that he’s now in business with IBM.
Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway fund now owns a 5.4% stake in IBM. He disclosed Monday, during an interview with CNBC, the fund has spent $10.7 billion on shares since March.
“Well, I didn’t buy railroad companies for a long time either,” he said of his tech transition. “I’ve had two interesting incidents in my life connected with IBM, but I’ve probably read the annual report of IBM every year for 50 years. And this year it came in on a Saturday, and I read it. And I got a different slant on it, which I then proceeded to do some checking out of. But I just — I read it through a different lens.”
Buffett says that he had not told IBM chief executive Sam Palmisano about the stake before he announced it on television, adding that he has no plans increase his shares at the time. One of the richest people in the world, Buffet has a track record for buying undervalued stock.
“I don’t think there’s any company that I can think of… that’s done a better job of laying out where they’re going to go and then having gone there,” he continued. “They have laid out a road map and I should have paid more attention to it five years ago where they were going to go in five years ending in 2010. Now they’ve laid out another road map for 2015.”
IBM’s shares rose slightly after the CNBC broadcast, but the company has yet to comment publicly on Buffet’s vote of confidence.
