Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Recently, the conglomerate posted a record net loss of nearly $50 billion in the first quarter of 2020. Amid the coronavirus-driven crisis, Berkshire had to find new ways of making profit. Previously, Warren Buffett supported the strategy of stocking up on cheap shares hoping that they will increase in value in the future. However, today the company is selling stocks and prefers to build up cash instead of buying the new ones. According to the company’s balance sheet, it spent just $3.5 billion on investments and had $137 billion in cash which is $10 billion up from last year. First of all, Buffett decided to sell his entire stake in the four largest US airlines: United Airlines, Delta Airlines, American Airlines, and Southwest Airlines. This decision is not surprising since the airline industry has been severely hurt by a forced shutdown due to the coronavirus outbreak. "The value of certain things has decreased," Warren Buffett said. "Our airline position was a mistake. Berkshire is worth less today because I took that position. There are other decisions like that." The billionaire investor stressed that today’s crisis in the stock markets is unprecedented and therefore requires new strategies.
