A BYD Seal U model car.
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is no longer a shareholder in Chinese electric vehicle behemoth BYD, ending an investment that first started in 2008 and delivered billions of dollars in returns to the American investment giant.
Berkshire Hathaway Energy, the unit that once held shares in Hong Kong- and Shenzhen-listed BYD, marked the value of the company’s stock as zero as of March 2025, according to a filing made in May to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The change was first reported by CNBC on Sunday. BYD’s public relations head, Li Yunfei, thanked Berkshire Hathaway’s investment and help over the past 17 years via his verified Weibo social media account in China. When asked for comment, a BYD representative referred to Li’s Weibo post and said the company has no additional comment.
Berkshire Hathaway’s exit has long been anticipated by the market. The Omaha-based investment firm first trimmed its BYD stake in August 2022, when it sold 1.33 million shares in the automaker at an average price of HK$277 ($35.7) apiece. But Berkshire Hathaway’s position became less visible as it kept disposing BYD stock. Under Hong Kong stock exchange rules, a shareholder no longer needs to disclose ownership once the stake falls below 5%.
The American investment giant has made handsome returns from its BYD investment. The stock was trading at around HK$8 apiece when it spent roughly $230 million to acquire 225 million shares, equivalent to a 10% stake at the time, more than a decade ago. After Berkshire Hathaway started to trim its ownership, BYD continued to make progress. Last year, it surpassed billionaire Elon Musk’s Tesla in global sales for the first time, thanks to a broader range of product offerings that often come at affordable prices.
Nowadays, BYD sports a market capitalization of more than HK$975 billion in the Asian financial hub and 975 billion yuan ($137 billion) in Shenzhen. Wang Chuanfu, the company’s chairman and CEO, is now China’s 11th richest person with a net worth of $24.4 billion, according to the Real-Time Billionaires List.
Yet the EV giant faces its share of problems. It is widely expected to miss its 2025 sales target of 5.5 million EVs globally, amid fierce competition and Beijing’s disapproval of the sector’s discounting strategy – which authorities believe is adding to deflationary pressures in the economy as automakers engage in a race to the bottom to attract increasingly frugal shoppers. In a September research note, Deutsche Bank forecasted that the company would deliver 4.7 million cars globally this year, up 10% from the 4.27 million units delivered in 2024. In a separate research note published in September, Morningstar analyst Vincent Sun predicted that BYD would sell 4.8 million cars in 2025.
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