On Monday, Sept. 22, BYD shares took a beating.
BYD ADR shares fell nearly 4%, killing a rally at the end of the previous week that had seemingly turned around the Chinese electric vehicle maker’s fortunes. The stock has fallen more than 21% over the past six months.
BYD shares hit a Warren Buffett-sized iceberg after it was revealed that Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) investment fund exited its stake in the company after 17 years.
A new securities filing from Berkshire shows that its energy unit marked BYD stake’s market value down to zero as of March 31, 2025, down from $415 million at the end of 2024.
Timeline of Berkshire Hathaway’s exit from BYD
- 2008 (Sept.) — Buy: Berkshire’s MidAmerican invested $230 million in 225 million H-shares (10% stake).
- 2009–2010 — Praise: Charlie Munger praised BYD’s Wang Chuanfu as “a combination of Thomas Edison and Jack Welch.”
- 2022 (Aug.) — Trimming: Berkshire began lowering its stake after a 20x run-up, selling 95 million shares by late 2022.
- 2024 (July) — Below 5%: A Hong Kong filing showed Berkshire dipped under the 5% disclosure line.
- 2025 (Sept. 22) — Exit: Berkshire’s filing put the holding at zero.
Image source: Zhang Congyu/VCG via Getty Images
BYD has been struggling so far in 2025
At the end of August, BYD reported quarterly financial results showing a profit that declined year over year for the first time in three-and-a-half years.
BYD, the world’s largest EV producer, reported a second-quarter net profit of 6.4 billion yuan ($894.74 million), down 29.9% from a year ago. This is a stark change from the previous quarter, when the company reported a 100.04% increase in quarterly profit.
Related: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire exits 17-year stake
Revenue in the second quarter rose 14% to 200.9 billion yuan as volume increased, but lower prices ate into profits.
BYD’s dismal second quarter
- Quarterly profit of 6.4 billion yuan ($894.74 million) was down 29.9% from a year ago.
- Quarterly revenue rose 14% to 200.9 billion yuan on higher volume, but lower prices ate into profits.
- A year ago, BYD reported a 100.04% increase in quarterly profit.
- China’s vehicle sales fell for a third consecutive month in July as production fell for the first time in 17 months.
Tesla is also faltering in China, thanks to pricing wars and competition
BYD followed the lead of Tesla by lowering prices to garner market share.
Tesla has been marketing in China using the made-in-China mantra, but data show that production at its China plant is slowing.
Tesla made 58,459 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles at Gigafactory Shanghai in April, a 6% year-over-year decline. This came as demand fell, with delivery data also declining in recent weeks.
Once the dominant EV market player, Tesla has faced a demand problem for 18 months that has only been exacerbated by Musk’s foray into politics.
More EV news:
- It’s not just Tesla; another EV giant takes a big tumble
- Ford CEO Jim Farley has a scary message about China’s EVs
- EVs suffer surprising rejection in a crucial market
- Tesla’s biggest rival slashes prices but faces major pushback
The company delivered just 384,122 vehicles globally in the second quarter, a 13.5% year-over-year decline that missed analyst estimates by about 3,000 units.
Last year, Tesla experienced its first annual sales decline since 2011 after reporting a 1.1% drop in overall deliveries to 1.79 million from 1.81 million the year prior, the AP reported, citing data from analytics firm Global Data.
Related: BYD follows Tesla’s radical approach; the results are just as disastrous
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