Warren Buffett More Than Doubles Stake in Apple, Owns 133 Million Shares

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has historically shied away from technology stocks, but he has nothing but praise for Apple. A year ago, Warren Buffett didn’t have a single share in Apple – now the billionaire owns 2.5 percent of the company.

The Berkshire Hathaway CEO said he went on a buying spree in January and now owns 133 million shares in Apple, worth about $17 billion. That’s more than double what he owned at the end of 2016, and up from zero at the beginning of 2016.

Buffett told CNBC‘s Becky Quick that from the period of January 1 through January 31, the day Apple reported its earnings, Buffett personally bought 120 million shares of the iPhone maker. The reason to dish out around $20 billion on one stock? He “liked it.”

“The degree to which people’s lives center around the product is huge,” Buffett said of the Apple iPhone, even as he revealed that he didn’t have one himself.

“I won’t make any predictions on market value,” Buffett said when asked if the company could eventually could be worth $1 trillion. “What I do know is that when I take a dozen kids to Dairy Queen, which I do every Sunday, they’re all on their iPhones. They love it.”

Apple closed at $136.66 in New York on Friday after rising 0.1% on the session, giving the company a market value of $717.7 billion. The stock was up slightly in premarket trading on Monday.