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Even though he loves stock, Buffett said that the past eight years have been a challenging environment for active investors who beat the S & P 500 index.
In fact, he told CNBC that Berkshire investment managers, Ted Weschler and Todd Combs, had been following the "S & P 500" since their entry into the company.
Combs, in his late 40s, arrived in 2010 after three years of research by Berkshire of someone to help him manage his huge portfolio of stocks. Weschler, in his fifties, joined the Berkshire two years later, after spending $ 5.3 million to win the 2011 and 2010 auctions in total for an annual charity luncheon with Buffett.
However, Buffett pointed out that Combs and Weschler – both former hedge fund managers, each managing about $ 13 billion in the Berkshire portfolio – have been more successful in the market than they have in the past. the same period.
Berkshire – whose equity holdings, including the top six in market value Apple, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Coca-Cola, American Express and Kraft Heinz – were worth nearly $ 173 billion by the end of 2018.
Following the 27% drop in Kraft Heinz shares on Friday after the company announced a $ 15 billion reduction in two key brands, Buffett said, "We paid too much for Kraft" , which merged in 2015 with Berkshire and Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital with HJ Heinz, the global ketchup power plant it bought in 2013.
As for Apple, Buffett told CNBC on Monday: "If it was cheaper, we would buy it – we do not buy it here." He added, "I do not see myself selling – the lower it goes, the better it is. I love it, of course."
While government reports show that Berkshire has reduced its stake in Apple in the fourth quarter, Buffett said it was Weschler or Combs, he said, who decided to sell some Apple to make a new investment.
Buffett doubled his critics on bitcoins, claiming that the world's largest cryptocurrency had "no unique value" and "attracted charlatans". He is not alone. Many CEOs, including JP Morgan Chief Jamie Dimon, have also expressed skepticism.
Bitcoin traded around $ 3,800 a unit at noon on Monday. It had increased from less than $ 1,000 in early 2017 to about $ 19,000 in mid-December of the same year. But since then, it has dropped quite steadily – about 80% of those peaks of all time.
Looking at the political landscape, Buffett said he would support Mike Bloomberg if the former 77-year-old mayor of New York, with three terms, ran for president in 2020 against Republican President Donald Trump. . "If Mike Bloomberg announced tomorrow that he was a candidate, I would say I'm for him," Buffett said.
It seems that billionaire Bloomberg, who went from independent party status to the Democratic Party in October, is considering running for the Democratic nomination for president. He was independent at his third term as mayor. He was Republican in the first two.
Buffett hopes that billionaire businessman Howard Schultz, aged 65, does not run for president as an independent. In January, the former head of Starbucks said he was considering making an offer to a third party.
Not making any assessment of Schultz as a potential candidate, Buffett added, "I think in general [that] third party candidates, they will hurt one party or the other, and they are more likely to hurt the side that they prefer because they are closer to that point of view, and they thus drive away more people if not go with the second best with this view. "
Buffett said he had never been a Democratic card-holder, pointing out that he had voted for Democratic and GOP candidates over the years.
However, Buffett has been more aligned with Democrats than Republicans on the issue of taxation of the rich, an issue he has been raising for years. "The rich are significantly under-taxed compared to the general population," he said.
Meaning. Elizabeth Warren, 69, and Bernie Sanders, 77 – both candidates for the Democratic presidency – called for a tax increase for the rich. Democratic Republic of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 29-year-old student from New York, also proposed that wealthy Americans pay more taxes.
"It probably means more taxes for guys like me, and it suits me," Buffett said.
WATCH: Here's CNBC's complete interview with iconic investor Warren Buffett
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