Does Buffett own JPM?

You might have seen headlines that Warren Buffett sold billions in JPMorgan stock and wondered if he thought the bank was in trouble. The real reason is simpler and reveals a key detail about how his investing empire works: it wasn’t his personal money on the line. This distinction is the key to decoding his famous moves.

So, who actually owns all these stocks? The answer is Berkshire Hathaway, the company Buffett runs. Think of it as a massive shopping cart. Warren Buffett is the world-class shopper deciding what goes in, but the cart itself—Berkshire Hathaway—is what holds all the investments, from pieces of Apple to Coca-Cola.

This distinction is crucial because public filings, which is how we know about these moves, report on the company’s holdings, not Buffett’s personal bank account. When you hear about one of “Buffett’s” big buys, you’ll know the news is really about Berkshire Hathaway’s investments—giving you a clearer picture of the real story.

How We Know What the ‘Omaha Oracle’ Owns: A Peek Inside the 13F Filing

You might be wondering how anyone knows exactly what companies Warren Buffett’s firm owns. It’s not because of some secret leak or insider tip. In the United States, a rule is designed to make the stock market more transparent for everyone.

This transparency comes from a report called a 13F filing. Think of it as a required “show-and-tell” for Wall Street’s biggest players. Every three months, large investment firms like Berkshire Hathaway must publish a list of the stocks they own. This gives the public a regular peek at the strategies of the world’s most influential investors.

When headlines appeared about Berkshire’s stake in JPMorgan, the information came directly from these public documents. It’s a straightforward look into their investment playbook, published for all to see. This filing is exactly how the story of their multi-billion dollar bet on the bank first came to light.

The Story of Berkshire’s Multi-Billion Dollar Bet on JPMorgan

While Warren Buffett has long voiced his admiration for JPMorgan’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, it wasn’t until late 2018 that Berkshire Hathaway officially bought in. Using the 13F filings as their guide, observers watched as Buffett’s company began purchasing shares of the banking giant, marking a new, high-profile relationship between two titans of American finance. The move signaled that after years of watching from the sidelines, Buffett was finally ready to put his company’s money behind the nation’s largest bank.

Over the next year, Berkshire built a massive investment stake—the portion of a company you own through its shares. At its peak, Berkshire’s position was worth several billion dollars, making it one of the bank’s largest outside shareholders. It was a significant ownership slice, though not nearly enough to control the company’s day-to-day decisions. Think of it as owning a large, valuable wing of a skyscraper, but not the entire building.

This multi-billion-dollar bet was widely seen as a powerful vote of confidence in JPMorgan’s leadership and future stability. When an expert like Buffett invests that heavily, the market takes it as a strong positive signal. The move was celebrated at the time, but it proved to be surprisingly short-lived. By early 2021, Berkshire had sold its entire stake, leaving investors and the public to puzzle over a new question.

Why Did Buffett Sell? Unpacking the JPMorgan Exit

If JPMorgan was such a great investment, why did Berkshire sell its entire stake? This is a natural question, and the answer isn’t that JPMorgan suddenly became a “bad” company. In fact, Buffett continued to praise its leadership. Instead, the sale reveals a core principle of his investing philosophy: you must choose your best idea, not just a good one. It’s a concept investors call opportunity cost.

Think of it like this: you have enough money for one great vacation, but two fantastic destinations are available. Choosing one means you have to pass on the other. During the same period Berkshire was selling JPMorgan, it was pouring billions more into another major bank, Bank of America. For Buffett, Bank of America simply became the better opportunity for his investment dollars, so he had to make a choice.

Ultimately, the JPMorgan exit wasn’t a vote against JPMorgan, but a massive vote for Bank of America. This decision illustrates portfolio concentration—instead of spreading his bets across several banks, Buffett chose to consolidate his investment into the one he believed had the most potential. The move was a masterclass in focus, showing that sometimes the smartest move is to sell a good investment to fund a great one.

What Big Banks Does Berkshire Own Today?

Selling its JPMorgan stake didn’t mean Berkshire Hathaway was soured on the banking sector. Quite the opposite—it was a move to concentrate its money on the financial companies it believed in most. This “go big on your best ideas” approach is a classic part of Buffett’s bank stock strategy and clearly shows where his confidence lies today.

So, what banks does Berkshire Hathaway own now? While the specific list changes, the strategy of making huge, focused bets remains. Bank of America has become the main event, growing into one of Berkshire Hathaway’s largest holdings of any kind. Beyond that cornerstone investment, other major financial players in the collection include:

• American Express

• Ally Financial

What You Can Learn From Buffett’s Big Bank Moves

What once seemed like a confusing headline is now a clear story about strategy. You now know that these massive investment decisions are made by a company—Berkshire Hathaway—and that the details are made public for all to see, not kept as Wall Street secrets.

The biggest lesson from Buffett’s JPMorgan exit is that selling isn’t always a red flag. Often, it signals a strategic choice: freeing up money from a good investment to seize a great one. It’s a calculated pivot, not a sign of panic.

The next time you see a headline about a major investor’s view on the financial services industry, you’ll have the framework to look past the noise, see the underlying strategy, and understand the real story behind the numbers.