Berkshire Hathaway sells Visa, Mastercard stocks, and invests $1 billion in Brazilian digital bank giant "Nubank"

Warren Buffett's investment company Berkshire Hathaway, after investing $500 million in the Brazilian digital bank Nubank last year, has further increased its stake by $1 billion in Nubank's Class A shares. The move to sell off holdings in Visa and Mastercard has also attracted attention.

Nubank

The focus in the cryptocurrency field has been on Warren Buffett's attitude towards cryptocurrencies. Previously reported, Nubank, founded in 2013, acquired the brokerage platform Easynvest in September 2020.

Since June 2021, Easynvest has been offering a Bitcoin ETF called "QBTC11", issued by QR Capital, the largest cryptocurrency asset management company in Latin America, and listed on the Brazilian stock exchange.

This contrasts with Buffett's past strong criticism of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Both he and Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman Charlie Munger have criticized Robinhood's business model, while Easynvest's feature happens to be not charging investment commissions.

Selling Visa and Mastercard Shares

According to filings submitted to the SEC in the fourth quarter of last year, Berkshire Hathaway purchased $1 billion of Nubank's Class A shares and sold $1.8 billion and $1.3 billion worth of Visa and Mastercard shares.

Berkshire's previous $500 million investment in Nubank yielded $150 million in returns in December last year, but Nubank's stock price has also fallen by 25% from its peak in December.