Warren Buffett made some smart moves in the stock market over the last year, as he became the only billionaire among the world’s richest whose net worth increased in recent days, despite President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Trump had announced last week that he would be implementing a ‘baseline’ 10 percent tariff on goods imported from countries across the world in what he dubbed ‘Liberation Day.’
But ever since, $6.6 trillion have been wiped off the value of US stocks as Wall Street reported its worst two-day period in history.
The carnage has hit ordinary Americans whose retirement savings, including 401(K) are tied to the market – but not even the world’s richest men have been spared, with nearly 90 percent of billionaires tracked by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index seeing their fortunes shrink.
Yet Buffett’s assets rose by $12.7 billion since January 1, following a year spent selling off much of his stocks and hoarding cash.
Among those who faced losses was Trump ally Elon Musk, whose net worth plunged $31 billion amid the tariffs and ongoing protests at Tesla showrooms in response to his onslaught of the federal government.
In total, the SpaceX founder has seen his fortune plummet by $130 billion thus far in 2025.
Jeff Bezos, who has also cozied up to the president in recent months, also saw $23.5 billion worth of his assets wiped out on Thursday and Friday, according to the Guardian.
Warren Buffett has become the only billionaire among the world’s richest whose net worth increased in recent days, despite President Donald Trump’s tariffs
He was also down another $7.59 billion on Monday, for a total loss of $45.2 billion this year alone.
Similarly, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had $27 billion disappear from his estate as Meta stock fell nearly 14 percent over the course of two days.
In total, $536 billion has been wiped from the world’s 500 wealthiest individuals’ accounts – with Friday alone accounting for a staggering $32.9 billion. That marks the largest single-day loss since the height of the COVID pandemic, according to the New York Post.
In September, 94-year-old Buffett sold off 150 million shares in Bank of America, which had been one of the financier’s most favored stock over the past seven years and the bank’s single largest shareholder.
He also offloaded shares of Apple – the combination of which brought Berkshire Hathaway’s cash reserves to a record $325 billion, enough to buy all but the top 25 US companies.
By February, Buffett decided to also get rid of billions of dollars of stock in DaVita, a dialysis provider.
Later that same month, Berkshire Hathaway completely dissolved its shares in two exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, from major investment companies Vanguard and State Street Global Advisors.
ETFs are a collection of stocks or bonds in a single fund which track an index like the S&P 500, Nasdaq or Dow Jones. The S&P 500 is an index of the 500 largest companies in the US.
Jeff Bezos, who has also cozied up to the president in recent months , saw $23.5 billion worth of his assets wiped out on Thursday and Friday, while DOGE Chief Elon Musk’s net worth plunged $31 billion amid the tariffs and ongoing protests at Tesla showrooms in response to his onslaught of the federal government
The S&P 500 closed more than 12 percent lower than it had last month
Each of Berkshire’s ETF holdings was valued at roughly $22 million, according to the Financial Times, and were liquidated in the fourth quarter of 2024.
More recently, it appeared that the so-called Oracle of Omaha was selling his real estate empire.
Compass, the largest real estate brokerage in the country, was in advanced talks last month to acquire Berkshire Hathaway’s HomeServices of America, the fourth-biggest player in the industry, according to The Wall Street Journal.
At the same time, Berkshire focused its investments on Japan, with Buffett telling shareholders in February wrote that he anticipates increasing the firm’s stocks in five Japanese trading houses – Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Sumitomo.
It now remains unclear what affect Trump’s tariffs will have on the Asian nation, for which the US president has imposed a 24 percent across-the-board tariff.
But the country’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed nearly 8 percent lower than on Friday, while the broader Topix finished down 7.7 percent.
The turmoil is now likely to continue, with tariffs set to go into effect in many other countries on Wednesday – including the European Union, at 20 percent, and China, at 34 percent.
Amid the chaos, Trump shared a fan-made video describing the ‘genius chess move’, which would allow America to cheaply refinance trillions of dollars worth of US debt
Many economists now worry of a global economic downturn, with betting markets now showing a 62 percent chance that the U.S. will plunge into a recession this year.
The odds of such an economic drop spiked when Trump announced the tariffs last Wednesday – when the odds of a recession went from 39 percent to 49 percent, according to Polymarket.
And on Sunday the chances reached a high of 66 percent, showing a whopping two in three chances that a recession in nearing.
Amid the chaos, Trump shared a fan-made video describing the ‘genius chess move’, which would allow America to cheaply refinance trillions of dollars worth of US debt.
The clip claims Trump will crash the stock market by 20 per cent this month ‘on purpose’ to weaken the dollar and lower mortgage rates.
However, the video’s additional claims that the controversial tactic has Warren Buffett’s support were shot down by the veteran investor.
He put out a denial via his firm Berkshire Hathaway on Friday. The video has also since received a community note on Twitter adding this context.
‘There are reports currently circulating on social media (including Twitter, Facebook and Tik Tok) regarding comments allegedly made by Warren E. Buffett. All such reports are false,’ the statement read.
Buffett told CNBC that he would not make a public statement on the agenda until Berkshire’s annual meeting on May 3.
But he has previously rebuked Trump’s plan, deriding tariffs as an ‘act of war.’
‘Tariffs are actually, we’ve had a lot of experience with them,’ he said in an interview on CBS News last month. ‘They’re an act of war, to some degree.
‘Over time, they are a tax on goods. I mean, the tooth fairy doesn’t pay ’em!’
