- Scott Galloway has made a fortune by holding Apple and Amazon stock for the last 15 years or so.
- The marketing professor channeled Warren Buffett by touting long-term, buy-and-hold investing.
Scott Galloway invested in Apple and Amazon about 15 years ago, and he's made a fortune by holding both technology stocks since then. His monster gains showcase the power of Warren Buffett-style investing, he said during a recent episode of the "Pivot" podcast.
"I invested in good companies and then I didn't trade," the marketing professor at NYU Stern said. "I have owned Amazon and Apple since 2009, and they're up, I think, 30 and 50x respectively."
"Finding great companies and holding for the long term is still probably the best means of aggregating wealth," he added.
Galloway's comments suggest he bought into Apple below $4 a share and Amazon for under $5 a share on a split-adjusted basis in 2009 — a fraction of their current stock prices of $189 and $138 respectively. The iPhone maker's nearly $3 trillion market capitalization, and the e-commerce titan's $1.4 trillion market cap, rank them among the world's most-valuable companies today.
Buffett has long preached the gospel of long-term, buy-and-hold investing, and employed it at Berkshire Hathaway to great effect. For example, Buffett's conglomerate hasn't touched its stakes in Coca-Cola and American Express since the mid-1990s. It spent about $1.3 billion establishing each position, and both are worth around $24 billion today — 18-fold increases in value. Berkshire also collects over $1 billion in combined dividends from the two holdings each year.
The value investor and his team have also owned Apple stock for the last seven years. Their position has more than tripled in value to over $170 billion during that period, making it by far the largest holding in Berkshire's roughly $350 billion stock portfolio.
Galloway channeled Buffett at other points during the podcast. The entrepreneur, author, and host of "The Prof G Pod" attributed his success to pursuing a career in something he excels at, living below his means, and amassing capital to invest.
"The best thing you can do is to be exceptionally good at something," Buffett said during Berkshire's annual shareholders' meeting last year, when he was asked how people can protect themselves against inflation. The centibillionaire is also famous for his frugal habits and modest lifestyle, and for gathering vast sums of money and putting them to work in financial markets.
Later, Galloway trumpeted Apple as a compelling long-term holding, given it's the "ultimate self-expressive benefit brand." In other words, its products are exceptional signifiers of personal wealth and creativity, meaning people are willing to pay huge sums to own them.
"Apple's one of those stocks you give to Rachel during her bat mitzvah, or you put in your 401(k)," he said. "Because over the long term, it's just hard to see how Apple doesn't continue to thrive."
Buffett has also underlined the immense appeal of Apple products, noting the huge amount of joy and utility they provide to users.