Warren Buffett told shareholders on Saturday that he wanted to reduce Berkshire Hathaway Inc's cash pile and that there was a small chance he would make an acquisition that could take up to $15 billion of cash.
The chairman and chief executive, speaking at Berkshire's annual meeting, also said that he sees the US dollar weakening further but said he reduced his stake in foreign currency contracts because there were better ways of avoiding damage to company profits.
The billionaire investment legend said Berkshire did not need anything like the $40 billion or so it has in cash, and would ideally like to shrink the pile to about $10 billion.
Berkshire is a conglomerate of many business units such as Benjamin Moore & Co, Fruit of the Loom and International Dairy Queen Inc, which make paint, underwear and ice cream. The bulk of its business comes from insurance through subsidiaries such as reinsurer General Re and auto insurer Geico.
Speculation has mounted of late about what Buffett will do with Berkshire's cash. Earnings released on Friday showed the company's cash position fell to $42.86 billion from a revised $45.02 billion at year-end.
On Friday, Berkshire said it would use some of it to boost its international presence, announcing it would buy 80 percent of Israel's Iscar Metalworking Cos. in a transaction valuing the closely held tool firm at $5 billion.
The Iscar deal helps fulfil Buffett's long-stated desire to make "major" acquisitions, which he said in March were needed to produce "truly satisfactory gains" in operating earnings at Berkshire, his insurance and investment company.
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