Buffett Doesn’t Regret Selling Airline Stocks Last Year — And He Still Doesn’t Want To Invest In Them

Buffett Doesn’t Regret Selling Airline Stocks Last Year — And He Still Doesn’t Want To Invest In Them

Share to Linkedin Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett defended his decision to sell the company's airline holdings last year even though those stocks have surged off their lows, telling investors at Berkshire's annual meeting Saturday that the travel industry remains in a precarious position, and he thinks federal officials may not have bailed out the airlines if the deep-pocketed investor had maintained a sizable stake in any of them. Warren Buffett celebrates his 90th birthday. At last year's annual meeting, after Covid-19 restrictions had hobbled the airline industry, Buffett disclosed that Berkshire Hathaway had sold its multibillion-dollar stakes in the four major U. S. airlines, but all four companies' share prices have rebounded strongly — Delta is up 168% since its low last spring, American is up 163% and United is up 199%. Despite this trend, Buffett argued Saturday the future of air travel is still uncertain because of the coronavirus, especially international and business travel, telling investors in a live-streamed address he "still wouldn't want to buy the airline business." Buffett also suggested Congress would have been less likely to approve the billions in aid it's provided for airlines if a prominent investor like Berkshire Hathaway had maintained a