Buffett Dumps Walmart Shares in Favor of US Airlines
15 Feb 2017 --- Warren Buffet has dumped his shares in Walmart in favor of a spending spree in the airline industry, buying up billions of dollars worth of stock. His Berkshire Hathaway has sold off US$900 million of Walmart stock leaving the billionaire business magnate with virtually no shares in Walmart, which has a current market value of US$298 billion.
Following his comments about the demise of traditional brick-and-mortar retailers last year, Buffett pulling out of Walmart compounds a lack of confidence in the retailer which has been struggling against the rise of e-commerce and competition from Amazon in particular.
Buffett first bought shares in Walmart in 2005.
During the fourth quarter, US multinational conglomerate holding company, Berkshire Hathaway has increased its shareholdings across several airline businesses, taking a new position in Southwest Airlines buying US$43.2 million shares valued at US$2.15 billion.
It also increased shares in Delta Airlines by 848% to 60 million shares worth US$2.95 billion, according to reports as well as increasing its stake in American Airlines.
Berkshire Hathaway also increased its shares in Apple, while the most valuable holding remains Kraft Heinz with other top holdings including Coca-Cola, IBM and American Express.
