Apple's Executive Chairman has reflected on the career of Warren Buffett, who today stepped down as the Chairman of major American conglomerate and investment company Berkshire Hathaway.
Buffett, 96, had served in the chairman role for over five decades, assuming the role in 1970.
In a post on X, Tim Cook said:
Today, as Warren steps down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, I am thinking about his lasting impact. Warren believed in Apple before anyone else, and we will never forget it. Thank you Warren and congratulations to Howard, who will be a wonderful chairman.
Buffett, who also served as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway for 55 years, has built up a relationship with Tim Cook since 2012, when the then-Apple CEO cold-called Buffett for advice on Apple stock.
In this call, Buffett encouraged Cook to buy Apple Stock if he believed it was undervalued. Apple subsequently began its major share repurchase programme in 2012.
A few years later, in 2016, Berkshire Hathaway announced it had bought Apple stock. The conglomerate continued to invest in Apple with the valuation peaking at $170 billion USD in 2023.
Today, the company's biggest holding is Apple stock, worth about $66 billion, according to investing.com, and is believed to be one of Apple's top 10 shareholders.
Following Buffett's advice early on in his role as Apple CEO, Tim Cook grew the company from a $350 billion valuation, to a market valuation of over $4 trillion.
Cook himself recently stepped down as Apple CEO, taking the Executive Chairman role on 1st September 2026.
