Warren Buffett 'sBerkshire Hathaway cut its stake inWells Fargo to 3.3%, its lowest level since 2003.- The billionaire investor's company owned more than 13% of the bank in 1994, and more than $29 billion worth of its shares in 2017.
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chart tracking Berkshire's Wells Fargo investment over the past 30 years. - Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway recently slashed its Wells Fargo stake to a 17-year low, signaling the famed investor has soured on the
The famed investor's conglomerate originally spent about $290 million between 1989 and 1990 to acquire a 9.7% stake in the bank. It grew that ownership position as high as 13.3% in 1994, and held as many as 500 million Wells Fargo shares in 2015 and 2016.
The value of its investment peaked at more than $29 billion in 2017, representing an almost 250% gain on its $11.8 billion cost.
However, Berkshire has reduced its position by more than 60% this year to 136 million shares as of September 4. Those shares were worth less than $3.3 billion on Tuesday, and account for just 3.3% of the bank's outstanding shares — Berkshire's smallest stake since 2003.
Wells Fargo's fake-accounts scandal, and the regulatory limits imposed on its lending as punishment, may explain why Buffett is bearish on the bank.
Berkshire also sold a bunch of financial
Here's a chart showing how the size and value of Berkshire's Wells Fargo investment has changed over the past 30 years: