Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) appeared on CNBC this morning and was interviewed by his favorite anchor, Becky Quick. The segment was close to three hours long and ValueWalk is covering the interview extensively.
One segment we thought was particularly interesting was Buffett’s comments about Steve Jobs, the former CEO of Apple. Warren Buffett revealed that Steve Jobs called him several years ago to get some business advice. Jobs wanted to know what to do with Apples’ (AAPL) giant cash pile, which is now close to $100 billion.
Buffett stated that there are four options for a company with extra cash 1. buy back stock 2. pay dividends 3. acquisitions 4. sit on it.
Jobs and Buffett discussed all the possibilities, and Buffett whose Berkshire Hathaway recently bought back stock for the first time in history focused on that idea with Steve Jobs. Buffett suggested that Jobs only buy back stock if Jobs believed that Apple, which was then 200 was undervalued. Jobs stated that he thought Apple was very undervalued. Jobs rejected the idea because he liked having cash.
