Just caught up on the latest 13F filings and there's some genuinely interesting moves from Berkshire Hathaway's final quarter. Warren Buffett officially stepped down as CEO at the end of 2025, and his last trading activity tells quite a story.

So here's what caught my attention: the Oracle of Omaha was basically in full liquidation mode on his mega positions. We're talking about dumping 7.7 million Amazon shares, nearly 10.3 million Apple shares, and over 50 million Bank of America shares. The Amazon position got slashed by 77%, Apple got cut by 75% since late 2023, and Bank of America took a 50% haircut since mid-2024. That's not gradual trimming - that's intentional exit.

The valuation story is pretty clear when you look at the numbers. Apple went from trading in the low-to-mid teens P/E ratio when Buffett first bought in 2016, and now it's sitting at 33. Bank of America was a screaming deal back in 2011 when Berkshire backed it at 62% discount to book value, but now it's trading at a 37% premium. These aren't the kinds of valuations that make Warren Buffett comfortable, honestly.

Here's the kicker though - while he was selling off those monster positions, Buffett went ahead and dropped $352 million into something completely new: The New York Times. That's 5 million plus shares of NYT at the end of the year. This move actually makes sense if you know how Buffett thinks. The Times has that brand moat he loves, the digital subscription base keeps growing (hit 12.78 million by year-end), and they've got solid pricing power.

What's interesting is that Buffett paid a pretty aggressive forward P/E of 24 for The New York Times - which is notable because he's historically been the guy who sits on cash waiting for better prices. But the combination of brand strength, subscriber momentum, and double-digit digital ad growth apparently made him willing to act.

The broader pattern here is classic Warren Buffett: when valuations don't make sense anymore, you move on. After 13 consecutive quarters of net selling, his final quarter before retirement shows a guy who was really focused on valuation discipline right up until the end. Whether that's the right call on these specific stocks is a different debate, but the logic is hard to argue with.