At 95, Buffett says 7 things: Now is not the time to bottom fish.

Author: Curry | Deep Tide TechFlow

Yesterday, Warren Buffett was interviewed by CNBC in the United States.

This was his first long-form interview since stepping down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway on January 1 of this year. At 95 years old, having led the company for sixty years and handed over the reins to Greg Abel, he arguably no longer needed to speak publicly.

But he discussed Apple, the Federal Reserve, Bill Gates and Epstein, Iran’s nuclear weapons—and also announced that his charity lunch would be resumed after a four-year hiatus.

There was a lot of information. Let’s go through it one by one.

1. Went to work on the first day of retirement

Buffett said he still goes to the office every day.

Before the market opens each day, he calls Mark Millard, Berkshire’s Director of Financial Assets, to discuss market trends and coordinate trades. Millard’s office is about six meters away from him. After finishing the call, he proceeds to execute the plan. When asked if he has made any new moves recently, Buffett said yes—he made a tiny (small buy of one lot)—but didn’t disclose what he bought.

He also drew a clear line: he will not make any investments that Abel disagrees with. Abel receives a daily summary of investment activities.

This arrangement sounds like it’s saying “ultimate decision-making authority is with the new CEO,” but another way to understand it is that the 95-year-old former CEO is present every day, involved daily, trading daily, while the successor works more than six meters away.

In the interview, Buffett praised Abel repeatedly, saying that Abel’s daily workload exceeds what Buffett himself did at his peak in a week. He said he’d rather have Abel manage his money than entrust it to any top investment advisor in the United States.

On paper, he’s retired. But this “retirement” is more like transitioning from CEO to sitting beside him as an advisor.

2. Sold Apple too early, but now not buying

Buffett admitted in this interview that Berkshire Hathaway’s reduction of its Apple stake was premature.

His exact words were: “I sold it too soon. But, I bought it even sooner, so.”

Translated, it means: he sold too early, but bought even earlier—so he still made a profit. He revealed that Berkshire’s pre-tax profit from the Apple investment exceeded $100 billion.

The timeline is as follows: Berkshire began buying Apple around 2016, and the position grew to over $170 billion at its peak, making it Berkshire’s largest single holding ever.

Between 2023 and 2024, Berkshire reduced its Apple holdings by about two-thirds. As of the end of last year, according to SEC filings, Berkshire held approximately 22.79 million shares of Apple, worth about $62 billion, still accounting for 22.6% of the entire portfolio and remaining its largest position.

Buffett said that Apple is better than any company Berkshire fully owns.

Berkshire’s railroad subsidiary, BNSF, has a market value higher than Berkshire’s Apple holdings, but Apple remains the top position. He also praised Apple CEO Tim Cook as a “fantastic manager,” saying Cook doesn’t know how to get along with everyone in the world.

When asked whether he would add to his Apple position again, Buffett gave a conditional answer: it’s not impossible. If Apple’s price drops to a certain level, Berkshire would buy heavily. But not now—“not in this market.”

Apple has already fallen over 14% from its high this year, but in Buffett’s view, it hasn’t reached the price at which he’s willing to buy.

3. Down 50% three times—so what is this

U.S. stocks haven’t looked good this year. As of the day of the interview, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down about 5% year-to-date, the S&P 500 down about 6%, and the Nasdaq down about 9%. Apple itself has retreated more than 14% from its high earlier this year.

Buffett’s reaction was: there’s nothing to be excited about.

He said that since he took over Berkshire Hathaway, the company’s stock price has fallen by more than 50% at least three times. Compared to those, the current decline is insignificant.

He also showed no signs of making a big move. For him, the current market is still far from those “great opportunities” in history.

In just a few words, he’s saying both “don’t panic” and “don’t expect me to buy the dip now.”

4. The inflation target should be zero

When asked whether the Federal Reserve is more worried about inflation or employment, Buffett didn’t pick a side. Instead, he said something broader: he hopes the Fed’s inflation target is zero.

His reasoning is that once you accept a 2% inflation rate, the long-term compounding effect is astonishing. And for ordinary people, earning 2% interest on savings and paying taxes on that interest actually erodes purchasing power.

Buffett also said that he cares more about the dollar’s status as a global reserve currency and the stability of the banking system than about employment data.

He praised Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s decisive actions during the March 2020 pandemic outbreak, saying that if Powell had acted two or three weeks later, it would have been a disaster: “Once the dominoes start falling, they fall faster than anyone expects.” In Buffett’s view, Powell and Paul Volcker, who famously tamed inflation with aggressive rate hikes in the 1980s, are the two most respected figures in Fed history.

However, he also criticized the Fed’s 2% inflation target, considering it a mistake—essentially telling everyone that saving money is worse than spending it.

5. The charity lunch is back

What prompted Buffett to change his mind was the death of a person.

Cecil Williams, founder of the Glide Foundation, passed away in 2024. Glide is a charity in San Francisco that helps homeless people. Buffett’s ex-wife, Susan, volunteered there for many years. Since 2000, Buffett has auctioned off an opportunity to have lunch with him once a year, with all proceeds donated to Glide. The event ran for 22 years. After the last auction in 2022, Buffett announced he would no longer hold it.

Photo: Cecil Williams, the person in the middle

But Cecil’s passing made him reconsider. Buffett said that when Cecil died, he believed Glide should not disappear.

This time, the format has changed.

Buffett will no longer attend alone. His partners are NBA four-time champion Stephen Curry and his wife, Ayesha Curry. The auction begins on May 7 on eBay, with a starting bid of $50,000. The winner can bring up to seven guests, and on June 24, they will go to Omaha to have lunch with three people. Half of the proceeds will be donated to Glide, and the other half to the Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, founded by the Currys, which helps youth in Oakland.

The last crypto-related auction was in 2019, when Tron founder Justin Sun spent $4.57 million. Afterward, Buffett donated the Bitcoin Sun gave him.

6. No longer in contact with Gates

This is Buffett’s first public comment about Bill Gates since stepping down.

He said that since Epstein-related documents were made public, he has not spoken to Gates again. His exact words were: “I don’t want to be in a position where I know things … to be called as a witness.” He doesn’t want to know too much or be subpoenaed to testify.

Buffett and Gates’ relationship has lasted for decades. In 2010, they co-founded “The Giving Pledge,” urging the world’s wealthiest to commit most of their fortunes to charity. Since 2006, Buffett has donated over $4.3 billion to the Gates Foundation.

Gates’ dealings with Epstein began in 2011, three years after Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea for sex crimes in Florida. Since late last year, the U.S. Department of Justice and Congress have released numerous related documents, including emails and photos between Gates and Epstein.

According to a prior report by The Wall Street Journal, Gates apologized to employees of the Gates Foundation in February this year, acknowledging his contact with Epstein and admitting an extramarital affair. Gates has accepted an invitation from the House Oversight Committee to testify, but the date has not yet been set.

When asked whether he still considers Gates a good friend, Buffett’s tone was restrained. He mentioned their joint founding of The Giving Pledge but then immediately said:

“I think there’s no need to say more until everything is clear.”

7. Nuclear weapons will be used sooner or later

In the final part of the interview, they discussed Iran.

Buffett said there are currently nine countries with nuclear weapons. During the Cold War, there were only two—America and the Soviet Union—and tensions were already high. But back then, decision-makers on both sides were at least rational. Now, the situation is entirely different.

He specifically mentioned Iran and North Korea. He said the most dangerous scenario is when the person with the nuclear button is about to die or is facing great shame. In such circumstances, no one can predict what decision that individual will make.

When asked what advice he would give if he were an advisor to the U.S. president—how to handle Iran’s uranium enrichment—Buffett did not give specific advice. Instead, he said something that sounds like fatalism: within the next hundred, maybe two hundred years, nuclear weapons might be used. He doesn’t know exactly how it will happen, but he believes it’s a matter of probability—the more countries with nuclear weapons, the higher the chance.

Regarding whether Iran should have nuclear weapons, he only said: if Iran gets a nuclear bomb, the situation will be more difficult than if it doesn’t.

A 95-year-old who has witnessed the end of World War II, the entire Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the collapse of the Soviet Union… his final judgment in the interview is thought-provoking.

The interview lasted about an hour and a half, covering everything they could discuss.

But the most noticeable detail for the writer was this: Buffett is 95, retired for three months, yet not a single word in front of the camera was about “looking back” or “summarizing his life.”

All his words are about the future.

Whether it’s whether to buy Apple, how to set the Fed’s goals, how Iran’s situation will develop, or what the new charity lunch will look like… The host, Becky Quick, gave him many chances to reflect, but he never took any.

It’s rare to see someone who has already handed over power still more interested in the future than the past.

The “Oracle of Omaha” may be old, but he’s still the Oracle. He used to vote with money; now he votes with judgment.