Warren Buffett'ın GM CEO'suna verdiği 'olağanüstü' tavsiye, hisse senetlerinin üç katına çıkmasına rağmen Berkshire için geri tepti. Onun büyük hatasından kaçın

Warren Buffett's 'phenomenal' advice to GM CEO backfired for Berkshire despite the stock tripling. Avoid his big mistake

Thomas Kent

Wed, September 16, 2026 at 2:15 PM GMT+3 8 min read

J. Countess/ Getty Images; Kayla Bartkowski/ Getty Images

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Warren Buffett once put General Motors CEO Mary Barra on the spot with a question. Would she run the company differently if she didn't have to report earnings every three months?

When Barra said no, Buffett offered advice she still calls (1) "phenomenal."

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"I don't want you running the company for the quarter," she recalled him saying. "'I want you running it for the long term. That's how you're really going to create value.'"

But Berkshire Hathaway's investment team apparently lost patience with GM before that long-term value emerged.

Berkshire began buying GM shares in 2012 and expanded its position to 80 million shares by 2020, giving the conglomerate a stake worth roughly $4 billion at its peak. It gradually cut that position before selling its remaining 22 million shares (2), valued in the realm of $850 million, during the third quarter of 2023.

GM's share price subsequently fell to a November 2023 low before more than tripling to approximately $84, per Business Insider. Berkshire paid around $25 per share (3) when it began investing in GM in Q1 2012.

Those final 22 million shares alone would have been worth around $1.85 billion at that new price, or roughly $1 billion more than their reported value at the end of the second quarter of 2023.

Berkshire bet big on GM, but ultimately Buffett blinked first. Here are a few lessons that everyday investors can take away from this multi-year saga.

1. Keep buying through the ugly stretches

In fairness, GM was in a rough spot when Berkshire exited. Its shares were struggling (4), electric vehicle demand (5) was developing more slowly than expected and the United Auto Workers launched a historic strike (6) against Detroit's three largest automakers in September 2023.

A shareholder watching the ongoing theatrics had plenty of reasons to jump ship.

Barra continued restructuring GM around its most profitable vehicles, reducing costs and returning billions to shareholders. Since late 2023, GM has committed tens of billions of dollars to stock repurchases. After completing a $10 billion accelerated buyback, it approved separate $6 billion authorizations in June 2024 (7), February 2025 (8) and January 2026 (9).

There's a lesson here for retail investors, too.

This strategy is similar to something many investors do without a second thought: dollar-cost averaging. Regularly investing a fixed amount can ease that pressure because you buy through both strong and weak markets instead of staking everything on one entry point.

But it can be hard to build the investing habits necessary to invest regularly. If you're struggling to get started at your own pace, you may want to build investing habits into your daily life.

Even small amounts can grow over time with tools like Acorns, an app that automatically invests your spare change into a diversified smart portfolio of ETFs.

How it works is simple: Sign up and link your cards, then Acorns rounds up each purchase to the nearest dollar and invests the difference — your spare change — into a fund of your choice. Then, once you're comfortable with these micro-doses of dollar-cost averaging, you can set up recurring deposits to boost your saving power.

With Acorns, you can invest in a dividend ETF with as little as $5 — and, if you sign up today with a small recurring deposit, Acorns will add a $20 bonus to help you begin your investment journey.

2. Follow the business, not just its stock price

A share price drop doesn't necessarily mean a company is failing, but it might not stop you from making an emotional decision to sell.

Before buying an individual stock, write down why you believe the company can create value.

Look for measurable factors such as earnings growth, stronger margins, debt reduction, market-share gains or progress toward management's stated goals. You should also take note of what could prove your original thesis wrong.

That gives you something objective to point to when the market turns against your investment.

Berkshire's GM exit is a case in point. The stock struggled in 2023 even as GM beat quarterly expectations and raised its profit forecast (10), and Berkshire sold anyway, missing the recovery.

That said, following those developments takes more work than watching a stock chart. After all, stock research is a full-time job, and many retail investors need to juggle work, family and recreation before they can even look at market research. That's why it can make sense to tap professional financial opinions to better inform your financial decisions.

Moby offers expert research and recommendations to help you identify strong, long-term investments backed by advice from former hedge fund analysts.

In four years, and across almost 400 stock picks, their recommendations have beaten the S&P 500 by almost 12% on average. They also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can try before you buy and make sure their research aligns with your needs.

Moby's team spends hundreds of hours sifting through financial news and data to provide you with stock and crypto reports delivered straight to you. Their research keeps you up-to-the-minute on market shifts and can help you reduce the guesswork behind choosing stocks and ETFs.

Plus, their reports are easy to understand for beginners, so you can become a smarter investor in just five minutes.

3. Build a foundation that holds through uncertainty

A diversified portfolio spreads your exposure across numerous companies, industries and potentially asset classes. One disappointing earnings report is then less likely to jeopardize your entire financial plan or provoke a panicked sale. Berkshire bet big on GM initially and, although they ultimately lost money on the deal, the rest of their portfolio was profitable enough to absorb the loss.

For regular investors, exchange-traded funds can provide that diversification without requiring you to research dozens of companies individually. They also reduce the pressure to predict which single stock will become the next GM.

If you prefer a hands-off approach, Vanguard's Digital Advisor builds a personalized portfolio using Vanguard's low-cost ETFs and mutual funds, then automatically rebalances it as markets move.

It takes the guesswork out of investing by building a personalized portfolio for you using Vanguard's well-known low-cost ETFs and mutual funds — then keeps things running smoothly with automatic rebalancing.

The platform also offers guidance on saving for retirement and lets you set additional goals as your life evolves. It can even help you think through debt repayment strategies, potentially freeing up more cash to invest toward your long-term plans.

With a minimum investment of just $100, it's an easy way to get started with professionally guided investing.

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*All investing is subject to risk, including the possible loss of the money you invest.

4. Get a second opinion before making a major exit

Selling might feel safer than holding because it ends the uncertainty immediately, but it also locks in your losses. Before liquidating your position, consider asking yourself a few things:

Has something actually changed at the company, or is the stock simply having a rough stretch?
Is this a temporary setback, or has the long-term case fallen apart?
Do I have a good reason to sell, or am I nervous?
What will I do with the money instead?
How much could the sale cost me in taxes?

If you struggle to answer any of these, a qualified financial advisor can help stress-test the decision and find out whether it fits your wider financial plan.

That's where Advisor.com can come in. The platform connects you with an expert near you for free.

Advisor.com does the heavy lifting for you, vetting advisors based on track record, client ratios and regulatory background. Plus, their network comprises fiduciaries, who are legally required to act in your best interests.

Just enter a few details about your finances and goals, and Advisor.com's AI-powered matching tool will connect you with a qualified expert best suited for your needs based on your unique financial goals and preferences.

Finding the right advisor isn't always easy — there's no one-size-fits-all solution. That's why Advisor.com lets you set up a free initial consultation, with no obligation to hire, to see if they're the right fit for you.

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