Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is trimming its position in BYD (BYDDY) , the Chinese electric vehicle company that competes with Tesla (TSLA) in its home country.
Berkshire has sold nearly 95 million of its original 225 million shares in the company after selling another 4.235 million shares, worth nearly $140 million last month, it announced in a filing with the Hong Kong stock market this week.
Despite the large sell off, Berkshire remains one of the company's biggest shareholders with 130.3 million shares, representing about a 12% stake in the company. However, that number is falling as last month the company owned 13%.
Last month's selloff was the second biggest of nine publicly disclosed transactions since the firm began selling shares in August, the South China Morning Post reported.
In November, Berkshire offloaded 5.78 million shares.
The selloff is estimated to have netted Berkshire about $2.6 billion in proceeds, according to the SCMP.
Timing the Selloff
China's electric vehicle sales growth is expected to decline this year by some industry watchers.
Tesla is taking the proactive route by slashing prices in China by 6% for Model 3s and 13.5% for Model Ys. January was the second time in three months the EV maker cut prices in China, its biggest market outside of the U.S.
This move has cascaded into a pricing war with its Chinese rivals who are hoping to keep up with the popular American brand.
Meanwhile BYD had its best January ever, selling 150,164 vehicles in the opening month of the year. That total is 62% higher than it was a year ago.
But BYD isn't following in Tesla's, or its other Chinese competitors', footsteps. The company has raised its prices slightly in recent months.
