Source: eCompany Author: Han Zhongnan On June 25th, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange disclosed that Berkshire Hathaway sold 2.0175 million shares of BYD Company Limited on June 19th, with an average reduction price of HKD 234.57 per share, cashing out approximately HKD 473 million, and the shareholding ratio decreased from 6.18% to 5.99%. It is worth noting that on June 11, Berkshire Hathaway just made a reduction and cashed out HKD 311 million. Reviewing the previous information, since the first reduction of BYD in August 24, 2022, the "stock god" Buffett has reduced his holdings of BYD many times. The shareholding ratio of Berkshire Hathaway has been adjusted from 19.92% to the current 5.99%. Some strategic analysts said that once Berkshire Hathaway's shareholding ratio of BYD drops to 5%, Buffett's reduction speed may accelerate. On June 25th, BYD A shares rose by 1.63%, closing at RMB 254.01 per share, and Hong Kong stocks rose by 0.84%, closing at HKD 239.60 per share. In the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting held in May this year, Buffett mentioned BYD, saying that BYD and Costco were the stocks that he and Munger worked together for these years and Munger most firmly advocated buying. Talking about why he reduced holdings of BYD, Buffett said that Berkshire Hathaway's investment in BYD was similar to the investment in Japan five years ago, which was a large investment that was rare outside of the United States. In the future, he hopes to focus more on the United States. In fact, recently, not only has Buffett been continuously reducing his holdings of BYD, but his favorite "apple" has also been greatly reduced. The latest holding situation submitted by Berkshire Hathaway to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows that in the first quarter of 2024, Buffett reduced his holdings of Apple Inc. by about 116 million shares, reducing his holdings of Apple from 49.3% at the end of 2023 to 40.3%. Analysts pointed out that judging from the portfolio adjustment actions, Buffett is withdrawing from the technology sector and returning to the industries he was familiar with before. The most obvious change is that Buffett has re-established a large position in Chubb Ltd. which he previously owned. Buffett also said in a recent letter to shareholders, "Property and casualty insurance provides the core protection for Berkshire's health and growth." "Only take a swing when conditions are right," Buffett believes that unless he can find investment standards with low risk and lucrative returns, he will not spend this money.
Author: Cao Chen.

According to media reports, the iPhone 16 series new products have officially started pre-order sales, and they have sold out on Apple's official website, JD.com, Taobao, and other channels.

Reporters found in several scalper groups that most scalpers are mainly fighting for the iPhone 16 pro and pro max versions. Earlier, merchants in the group who recycled phones repeatedly emphasized that the iPhone 16 may face 'breaking' (referring to the secondary market price falling below the selling price).

'The market for Apple phones is no longer as good as before.' A market insider told reporters that in previous years, when a new iPhone was released, as long as they could grab it first-hand, they could sell it to the phone recycling merchants at a markup of about 800 yuan.

However, on the second day after the pre-order sales of the iPhone 16 series began, scalpers only announced in the group: The iPhone 16 pro and pro max versions are priced from 50 yuan to 400 yuan higher depending on the different storage configurations.

From the latest data, on September 14th, the e-commerce pre-sale performance of the iPhone 16 series has been gradually announced, and the iPhone 16 Pro Max has become the 'sold-out king' of this series, selling out within seconds on multiple platforms.

According to media reports, at jd.com's official flagship store, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are more popular compared to the standard version of iPhone 16, especially the Desert Gold version, which sold out in seconds after the first batch was launched.

On the night of pre-sale, jd.com added replenishments 15 times within one hour to ensure sufficient supply. The estimated delivery time for iPhone 16 on Apple China's official website is September 20th, while the delivery time for iPhone 16 Pro Max is delayed until October 10th to October 17th.

Data from eleme shows that iPhone 16 Pro Max has become the best-selling model and quickly sold out after being launched. The Desert Gold color option is the most popular. On jd.com, iPhone 16 Pro Max was also the first model to be marked as 'out of stock'.

On September 14th, it was found that iPhone 16 Pro Max at jd.com had been replenished, while there was still a shortage in the Beijing area of eleme.

Although the iPhone 16 series has just started pre-sale, many e-commerce platforms have started a new round of subsidies war.

On the morning of September 14th, pdd holdings immediately launched an activity: billions of subsidies for the iPhone 16 series, with a minimum reduction of 400 yuan and a maximum reduction of 1000 yuan, achieving an immediate price drop for the entire series.

Among them, the starting price of iPhone 16 on the official website is 5999 yuan, while the subsidized price on pdd holdings starts at 5399 yuan, with a direct discount of 600 yuan. For iPhone 16 Plus (512GB), the starting price on the official website is 9999 yuan, while the subsidized price on pdd holdings is 8999 yuan, saving 1000 yuan.

In the afternoon of September 14th, taobao tmall platform followed up with subsidy activities. It is reported that tmall Apple Store's official flagship store provides 24-month interest-free installments for the new product. Tmall officials responded to Time Finance that this is the first time Tmall officially supports interest-free installments during the new product launch period. In addition, by trading in old iPhones to purchase new ones, tmall offers an additional subsidy of up to 1200 yuan.

According to the news from Taobao, the presale of iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max was extremely popular last night, especially the Desert Gold version, which sold out within seconds of the first batch of supply. Tmall has added additional inventory overnight, up to 15 times within 1 hour. Meanwhile, the official flagship store of Apple on Tmall has gained 420,000 new followers in just 3 days since the release of the new products, with the current number of fans reaching 26.45 million.

JD.com has launched a service called Price Protection 11.11 for purchasing the specified A+ member edition of the iPhone 16, promising that if the price drops during the specified period, customers who purchased the A+ member edition can apply for price protection. The A+ membership is priced at 99 yuan and lasts for 1 year. In addition to price protection, users can also enjoy a 6% discount on accessories, as well as discounts on App Store recharges and other services.

It is worth mentioning that instant retail platforms are also intensifying the sales war for Apple smartphones.

Meituan’s ‘Flash Purchase’ is one of the earliest authorized Apple stores to enter the instant retail platform. The cooperation between the two parties began in 2020. Before the start of the presale this year, the number of people subscribed to the 'presale reminder' for the iPhone 16 series on Meituan's authorized Apple store has grown significantly compared to last year. Among them, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is the most popular, with the highest number of subscribers.

According to Meituan, nearly 7,000 authorized Apple stores across the country have joined Meituan’s 'Flash Purchase' this year. The number of stores participating in the first batch of presales has doubled compared to last year, with more third- and fourth-tier cities and rural markets joining in. After the official launch on September 20th, some customers received their new phones in as quickly as 30 minutes.

On September 14th, JD Daojia announced that within 2 minutes of the start of the presale, the sales of the iPhone 16 series on JD.com exceeded 100 million yuan under the 'JD Express' service. JD Express claimed to deliver the phones on September 20th, with some customers receiving them in as fast as 9 minutes.

The 'White Paper on the Instant Retail Consumer Electronics Industry' shows that instant retail has become an important way for mobile phone brands to launch new products and expand market scale. In recent years, the consumer electronics category has experienced rapid growth in the instant retail market. The compound annual growth rate is expected to reach 68.5% from 2021 to 2026, and the scale of the instant retail consumer electronics industry is expected to exceed one trillion yuan by 2026.

E-commerce analyst Zhuang Shuai stated that there is still a high demand for new products in the 3C category in the instant retail sector, especially for immediate needs of gamers. Instant retail platforms also find it easier to establish new category awareness and achieve higher profits through new 3C products. However, they also face certain challenges, including challenges in instant fulfillment, platform supply (requiring ground promotion teams to develop physical stores on instant retail platforms), and the challenge of localized operation in urban areas.

Editor/Jeffy