(Forbes) Warren Buffett is a smart investor who should have heeded his own advice when it comes to investing in technology.
His first big bad tech bet was IBM. And as I pointed out in February 2018, his second was Apple.
Now that second big bad tech bet is underwater. Apple is a victim of being too caught up in its own greatness to realize that its product is over-priced and lacking features that competitors are happy to provide consumers for much less money.
And Buffett is paying the price for Apple's inability to compete. After all, since accumulating nearly 252.5 million shares of Apple as of September 30, 2018, Buffett's Apple investment has declined 37% in value from $57 billion to $36 billion on January 4, according to MarketWatch.
Berkshire Hathaway has been accumulating that stake since 2016 and MarketWatch estimates that the value of its investment in Apple has been down "over $1 billion since he starting buying about 3 years ago."
What's eating Apple? CEO Tim Cook announced Wednesday that Apple revenues would not meet expectations for the third quarter due to weaker-than-expected iPhone sales, primarily in China.
