Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reveals Citigroup and Paramount stakes — and virtually eliminated its Verizon wager

• Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway invested in Citigroup and Paramount Global last quarter.
• Buffett's company more than quadrupled its stakes in Chevron and Activision Blizzard.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway added Citigroup and Paramount Global to its stock portfolio last quarter, a Securities and Exchange Commission filing revealed on Monday.

The famed investor's company owned $2.9 billion worth of the banking giant's shares, and $2.6 billion of shares in the media giant, as of March 31. It also established stakes in Ally Financial, Markel, McKesson, Celanese, Occidental Petroleum, and HP last quarter. Only those last three positions were worth more than $1 billion.

Berkshire more than quadrupled its stakes in Chevron and Activision Blizzard, boosting the value of those positions to around $26 billion and $5 billion respectively at the end of March. Buffett's company also marginally increased its Apple bet.

On the other hand, Berkshire slashed its Verizon stake by more than 99%, cutting the holding's value from $8.3 billion to about $70 million in the space of three months. It also exited its positions in AbbVie, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Wells Fargo.

The overall value of Berkshire's US stock portfolio rose by 10% to $364 billion.

Buffett had been struggling to find bargains in recent years as stocks marched to record highs, fierce competition from private equity firms and SPACs drove up the cost of acquisitions, and Berkshire's rising stock price made share repurchases less compelling.

That changed in the first quarter of this year, when Berkshire bought $51 billion worth of equities, and sold less than $10 billion worth. Its net expenditure of $41 billion helped to slash its cash pile by 28% to $106 billion, and marked one of the most active buying periods in its history.

Berkshire's bets on Occidental, HP, and Chevron were all flagged in SEC filings in recent weeks. Moreover, Buffett explained why he bought more Apple and Activision Blizzard shares during his company's recent annual shareholders' meeting. He wanted to own more of the iPhone maker, he said, despite it already being Berkshire's biggest holding by far.

As for the video-games studio, Buffett revealed he's dabbling in merger arbitrage. He's betting that Microsoft's proposed takeover of the company will be completed, and Activision Blizzard shares will rise to the offer price of $95 from their current price of $78.

Read more: We interviewed the CEOs of 4 of Warren Buffett's most iconic businesses. Here are their 16 best quotes about the investor, Berkshire Hathaway's ownership, and navigating the pandemic and inflation.