Warren Buffett's company Berkshire Hathaway sells US airline shares

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett says his company Berkshire Hathaway has sold all of its shares in the four largest US airlines. Speaking at the annual shareholders' meeting, Buffett said "the world has changed" because of the coronavirus. He then said he had been wrong to invest in the airline industry. The conglomerate had an 11% stake in Delta, 10% of American Airlines, 10% of Southwest, and 9% of United, according to its annual report and company filings. The firm began investing in the four airlines in 2016, after avoiding the aviation industry for years. Buffett told the meeting: "We made that decision in terms of the airline business. We took money out of the business basically even at a substantial loss. We will not fund a company that... where we think that it is going to chew up money in the future." Buffett said he had been considering investing in additional airlines before the pandemic hit. "It is a blow to have, essentially, your demand dry up," he said. "It is basically that we shut off air travel in this country."<br/>