Warren Buffett Is Getting Richer In 2025 — And It's Not Because Of Apple: How One Chinese Holding Is Helping
Billionaire Warren Buffett has a long history of his Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE:BRK)(NYSE:BRK) conglomerate outperforming the S&P 500, which is tracked by the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY).
While many stocks are down in 2025, one of Buffett's top holdings is significantly outperforming the broader market and could help him outperform in 2025 once again.
What Happened: Buffett's investment in Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which remains his largest stock position in Berkshire Hathaway, has helped produce strong returns but is turning into a sore spot in 2025.
Apple stock is down 15.9% year-to-date in 2025. In fact, of the five largest stock holdings in Berkshire Hathaway, only one is positive year-to-date as shown below:
- Apple Inc: -15.9%
- American Express (NYSE:AXP): -7.1%
- Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO): +15.3%
- Bank of America (NYSE:BAC): -7.3%
- Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX): -5.3%
The Berkshire Hathaway portfolio includes positions in many stocks and one of the top performers year-to-date and over the last several years is Chinese automaker BYD Company ADR (OTC:BYDDY).
The stock is up 49.1% year-to-date, up 69.3% over the last year and up 733.9% over the past five years. Along with beating Apple year-to-date, the five-year returns of the electric vehicle company also outpace Apple.
Buffett currently owns over 54 million shares of BYD valued at $2.7 billion. The stock represents around 1% of the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio with the conglomerate owning over 4% of the automaker.
While Buffett has trimmed the position in BYD in recent years, he remains a key shareholder and the stock's gains are helping Berkshire Hathaway and the wealth of Buffett.
Berkshire Hathaway stock is up 19.3% year-to-date, outpacing the -3.0% performance of the SPY. Berkshire Hathaway has also outperformed the SPY on a one-year and five-year basis.
Buffett is now the sixth richest person in the world with a wealth of $166 billion, according to Bloomberg. Buffett has gained $23.6 billion in wealth and is the top gainer year-to-date among the world's billionaires.
Only three of the top 10 richest people in the world have added to their wealth in 2025, with six of the top 10 each losing $20 billion or more to their wealth totals.
Why It's Important: Buffett can thank companies like BYD that have gained in the Berkshire Hathaway stock portfolio for his increased wealth in 2025.
The growth may not be done for BYD as the company continues to expand in Europe and parts of Asia and is among the world's leaders in electric vehicle sales.
In March, BYD was number one in new electric vehicles sales in China, with 29.3% market share, outpacing Geely (11.2%) and Tesla (7.5%). In the first quarter of 2025, BYD had 28.8% market share for new electric vehicle sales in China.
A new production facility in Hungary is expected to produce 200,000 units a year and help BYD's expansion in Europe. The company is also considering another factory in the region, according to reports.
BYD sold 37,000 units in Europe in the first quarter of 2025, up from 8,500 units in the previous year.
In Japan and Australia, BYD is launching more affordable models that could help expand its market share.
Future growth for BYD and continued stock gains could be important to Berkshire Hathaway continuing to outperform the S&P 500 and for Buffett to grow his wealth.
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