Warren Buffett is famous for his winning investment picks, but even the Oracle of Omaha has some massive regrets. The surprising part? His biggest mistakes weren’t bad investments. Instead, they were great companies he completely ignored.
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At Berkshire Hathaway’s 2018 annual meeting, Buffett made the admission about one of the most successful companies of the past two decades.
The Amazon Confession That Shocked Investors
“I blew it,” Buffett said when discussing Amazon. The billionaire investor explained that he had watched Jeff Bezos build the e-commerce giant for years but never invested in the company during its explosive growth phase.
“Obviously, I should have bought it long ago,” Buffett admitted. “I admired it long ago, but I didn’t understand the power of the model. It’s one I missed big time.”
The regret runs deeper than just missing profits. Buffett recognized Amazon’s potential early but talked himself out of investing. “The problem is when I think something will be a miracle, I tend not to bet on it,” he explained.
In another moment of brutal honesty, Buffett said he was “too dumb to realize” Amazon’s potential and admitted, “I did not think Jeff Bezos could succeed on the scale he has.”
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The Google Mistake That Still Stings
Amazon isn’t Buffett’s only tech regret. His late business partner Charlie Munger was equally blunt about missing Google in its early days.
“I feel like a horse’s ass for not identifying Google earlier,” Munger once said. “We screwed up.”
Both Buffett and Munger acknowledged they made the wrong call in not buying Google when the search engine was still establishing its dominance. The company went public in 2004 at $85 per share and has split multiple times since then, creating massive wealth for early investors.
Why Buffett Missed These Obvious Winners
The reasons behind these regrets reveal something important about Buffett’s investment philosophy. For decades, he’s followed a strict value investing approach focused on companies within his “circle of competence.”
Technology companies fell outside that circle. Buffett preferred businesses he could easily understand–insurance companies, banks, consumer goods manufacturers and utilities. He avoided tech stocks because he couldn’t predict which companies would succeed in a rapidly changing industry.
This conservative approach made Buffett incredibly wealthy by avoiding busts and focusing on steady, profitable businesses. But it also meant missing some of the biggest winners of the internet age.
Buffett’s investing style emphasized buying companies at reasonable prices with predictable earnings and strong competitive advantages. Amazon and Google represented a different type of investment — high-growth companies trading at high valuations with business models that required faith in long-term vision rather than immediate profits.
What These Regrets Cost Berkshire Hathaway
The financial impact of missing Amazon and Google is staggering. Amazon’s stock has gained more than 1,000% since 2008, when Berkshire could have still bought shares at reasonable prices. Google’s parent company Alphabet has delivered similar returns to long-term shareholders.
If Berkshire had invested just $1 billion in each company during their growth phases, those positions would be worth tens of billions today. The missed opportunity represents some of the largest potential gains in investment history.
How Buffett Eventually Adapted
The Amazon and Google regrets eventually influenced Buffett’s thinking. In 2016, Berkshire made a massive investment in Apple, marking a significant shift toward technology companies.
Buffett initially let his investment managers buy Apple shares, but eventually embraced the investment himself. He recognized that Apple had the kind of strong brand loyalty and recurring revenue streams he valued in traditional businesses.
The Apple investment became one of Berkshire’s most successful positions, proving that Buffett could adapt his approach when he found tech companies that fit his investment criteria.
In 2019, Berkshire finally bought Amazon shares, though Buffett admitted the investment came far too late to capture the company’s massive growth phase.
The Lesson Behind the Regrets
Buffett’s honesty about these mistakes offers valuable lessons for regular investors. Even legendary investors miss obvious opportunities and make errors in judgment.
The key insight isn’t that investors should chase every hot stock or abandon proven strategies. Instead, Buffett’s regrets show the importance of staying open to new opportunities while maintaining investment discipline.
Buffett’s circle of competence strategy still generated tremendous wealth over decades. The Amazon and Google misses sting because they were such spectacular winners, but they don’t invalidate his overall approach.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Warren Buffett’s Biggest Investment Regret Will Surprise You
