"Stock God" Buffett talks about the stock market casino theory again! Lamented that Google "bought late"
["Stock God" Buffett talks about the stock market casino theory again! Lamenting that Google was "too late to buy"] On Wednesday local time, Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Buffett made sharp criticism of the current stock market in a recent exclusive interview with the media, believing that the market is increasingly dominated by short-term speculative transactions rather than based on long-term value investment. The "Oracle of Omaha" who has been in the market for 60 years also revealed that it was his decision for Berkshire to acquire Google, and the priority of Apple's position has dropped.
On Wednesday local time, Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Buffett made sharp criticism of the current stock market in a recent exclusive interview with the media, believing that the market is increasingly dominated by short-term speculative transactions rather than based on long-term value investment. The "Oracle of Omaha" who has been in the market for 60 years also revealed that it was his decision for Berkshire to acquire Google, and the priority of Apple's position has dropped. Buffett said: "When everyone is keen on gambling, it is really difficult to find value targets with a margin of safety." It is worth mentioning that the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway issued a similar warning to the US stock market in January this year. At the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting in May, he compared the stock market to "a church with a casino," specifically naming skyrocketing one-day options trading, saying that such behavior was essentially gambling. U.S. stocks will hit all-time highs in 2026. Even if the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran triggers energy shocks, the market will still buck the trend and rise amid concerns. Market doubts point out that the stock speculation atmosphere bound to the artificial intelligence industry track is overheated, and options, leveraged ETFs and other tools have further fueled the hype. A large number of retail investors poured into the stock market collectively, buying memory chip manufacturer Micron and SpaceX, which had just completed its IPO. The 95-year-old Buffett has firmly practiced value investing throughout his life. He admitted that high-quality investment opportunities with high certainty and worth planning are becoming increasingly scarce, and investment must be patient and strictly disciplined. The chairman of Berkshire said: "In some stages, there are excellent opportunities everywhere, so many that it is overwhelming and unbelievable; but more often, you may not find a satisfactory target for several years, and you are lucky to find an opportunity. And the market normality is always the latter situation." He added: "But human beings are naturally addicted to gambling, and you can make more profits by attracting speculative gamblers than cultivating real long-term investors." Google bought it late, Apple’s priority dropped Buffett revealed that Berkshire has recently invested heavily in Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and that the initiator of this investment was himself, not the new CEO Greg Abel. “This investment was the first thing I proposed.” Berkshire first disclosed its holdings of Alphabet shares in the third quarter of 2025 and has continued to increase its position since then. Earlier this year, the group also participated in Alphabet’s US$10 billion private placement to provide financial support for its artificial intelligence infrastructure construction. "The core secret of investing and even life is to find companies that can maintain high returns on capital for a long time." Buffett said later. Buffett announced his resignation as CEO in May last year and officially handed over management rights to Abel in early 2026. Talking about his successor Abel, the Berkshire chairman added: "I will not make any investment that he does not agree with, and he will not promote any decision that I do not agree with. We communicate almost at all times, but the final decision-making power rests with him." It is worth mentioning that although Apple is one of Berkshire's largest holdings, it is not among his favorite holdings. "There are at least four or five companies we hold that I have a higher priority than Apple." Buffett, who is about to turn 96, said. He also believes that deploying AI requires huge capital investment, which is a core problem faced by Alphabet and all technology peers. "At present, Google and all its competitors have to invest hundreds of billions of dollars, which are real huge costs," Buffett said. "This is the competitive track of the industry now; in the early years of the computer software industry, there was no need to burn money on such a large scale." The legendary investor said that even with the news that Tim Cook is about to step down as Apple CEO, Apple, Berkshire's largest holding, is still one of his most optimistic stocks. "I understand Apple better now than I did years ago," Buffett said. "There are top talents from all over the world who continue to study and find ways to ensure that Apple can continue its past glory in the future." (