According to analysis, once the shareholding ratio drops to 5%, Buffett will accelerate the pace of shareholding reduction, because shareholding reduction by shareholders with less than 5% shareholding does not require disclosure.
After a month, Buffett once again reduced his shareholding in BYD.
According to documents released by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday, July 16th, Berkshire Hathaway, which is owned by Buffett, reduced its holdings of 1.3955 million shares of BYD H shares at an average price of HKD 246.96 per share, reducing its stake from 5.06% to 4.94%.
After this reduction, Berkshire Hathaway's shareholding in BYD has dropped to below 5%.
Previously, some industry analysts believed that Buffett may have plans to reduce his stake in BYD to zero. He stated that once the shareholding ratio drops to 5%, the reduction speed will accelerate because the reduction of shareholders with less than 5% shareholding does not need to be disclosed.
Berkshire Hathaway first reduced its stake in BYD on August 24, 2022, and stopped after multiple reductions on October 25, 2023. Since the middle of this year, Berkshire Hathaway has once again begun to reduce its stake, and the reduction speed has accelerated.
Prior to this, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange data showed that on June 11 and June 19, 2024, Berkshire Hathaway reduced its holdings of BYD H shares by 1.3475 million shares and 2.0175 million shares, respectively. In just one week, Berkshire Hathaway's shareholding ratio dropped by nearly one percentage point to 5.99%.
Despite being repeatedly reduced by Berkshire Hathaway, BYD's performance has maintained steady growth over the past two years.
According to BYD's 2023 annual report, the company achieved revenue of CNY 602.315 billion during the reporting period, an increase of 42.04% year-on-year. The net income attributable to shareholders of the listed company was CNY 30.041 billion, an increase of 80.72% year-on-year. In the first quarter of this year, BYD achieved operating income of CNY 124.94 billion, an increase of 3.97% year-on-year, and net income of CNY 4.569 billion, an increase of 10.62% year-on-year.
Despite the increasingly intense competition in the electric vehicle market, BYD's sales still lead the way. In the first half of this year, BYD sold a total of 1.613 million electric vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 28.46%.
Boosted by impressive sales performance, BYD's Hong Kong shares have risen more than 17% so far this year, currently hovering around HKD 246 per share.
At the same time, BYD's journey to go global is creating new opportunities for the company.
JPMorgan previously estimated that BYD's global deliveries (including China) will reach 6 million vehicles by 2026, with overseas market deliveries accounting for about 1.5 million vehicles. This means that BYD's share of the global light vehicle market (including gasoline vehicles) will increase from 3% in 2023 to 7% in 2026, while its share of the new energy vehicle market (excluding hybrid vehicles) will remain at around 22%.