Apple is a 'consumer company' and not a normal tech firm, suggests Tim Cook
Berkshire Hathaway's investment in Apple is proof that the company isn't really a normal tech company, Apple CEO Tim Cook has suggested, with the fund's holdings in the iPhone maker serving as a sign the iPhone maker is closer to a consumer products company in its current state.
Following after Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting, Tim Cook mused on the fund's sizable holding in Apple in an interview about famed investor Warren Buffett's opinions on the iPhone producer. While Berkshire Hathaway and Buffett typically avoid any major investments in technology companies, it made an exception for Apple, and currently holds stock worth over $50 billion.
Warren Buffett "has been very clear, he didn't invest in technology companies and companies he didn't understand," Cook told CNBC. "He's been totally clear with that. And so he obviously views Apple as a consumer company."
"We believe that technology should be in the background, not the foreground, and that technology should empower people to do things and help them do things they couldn't do otherwise" Cook continued. "We're in the tech industry, but we work at that intersection of technology and the liberal arts and the humanities, and so we make products for people, and so the consumer's and the center of what we do."
Buffet's favorable opinion of Apple "seemed like recognition" of its continuing evolution, Cook mused. "We run the company for the long term, and so the fact that we've got the ultimate long-term investor in the stock is incredible."
Cook's comments were made as he attended the investor event for the first time.
Berkshire Hathaway's previous and rare investment in tech was in IBM, which it effectively ended in 2018 as it increased its investment in Apple, though it is slowly moving to buy more tech-related stocks. Recently, the fund started buying shares in Amazon, with Buffett reportedly an admirer of both the company and CEO Jeff Bezos.
Following after Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting, Tim Cook mused on the fund's sizable holding in Apple in an interview about famed investor Warren Buffett's opinions on the iPhone producer. While Berkshire Hathaway and Buffett typically avoid any major investments in technology companies, it made an exception for Apple, and currently holds stock worth over $50 billion.
Warren Buffett "has been very clear, he didn't invest in technology companies and companies he didn't understand," Cook told CNBC. "He's been totally clear with that. And so he obviously views Apple as a consumer company."
"We believe that technology should be in the background, not the foreground, and that technology should empower people to do things and help them do things they couldn't do otherwise" Cook continued. "We're in the tech industry, but we work at that intersection of technology and the liberal arts and the humanities, and so we make products for people, and so the consumer's and the center of what we do."
Buffet's favorable opinion of Apple "seemed like recognition" of its continuing evolution, Cook mused. "We run the company for the long term, and so the fact that we've got the ultimate long-term investor in the stock is incredible."
Cook's comments were made as he attended the investor event for the first time.
Berkshire Hathaway's previous and rare investment in tech was in IBM, which it effectively ended in 2018 as it increased its investment in Apple, though it is slowly moving to buy more tech-related stocks. Recently, the fund started buying shares in Amazon, with Buffett reportedly an admirer of both the company and CEO Jeff Bezos.
Comments
Tim doesn’t even seem to know what Apple is:
monitors, no monitors, own screen techn, no screen tech, peripherals, no peripherals, network devices, no network devices, discontinued servers. After so many years, most customers are completely fed up with the diversity of direction, perceived indifference, lack of strategy.
I’m using an iPad Pro with a Smart Keyboard, daily; sometimes all day. I do lots of text editing on websites in Safari (broken as hell), editing notes and email (undo often skips undo steps and defeats the whole purpose of undo), multitasking (CMD-Tab shows me every app I’ve ever opened, not the running apps), trying to watch 720p YouTube videos in Safari (they have been freezing on resolution change ever since iOS 12)... I find constant annoying bugs in even these most basic functions.
Only two bugs I’ve reported in 7+ years have been fixed, while more keep appearing.
I use and enjoy plenty of Apple products, they're all working nicely and smoothly, and my AAPL stock is doing well. Sounds like a great combo, imo.
The optimism and pride we once had for the Valley has now soured, as we see tech companies only looking to get rich and not develop something which actually makes the world a better, safer and fairer place.