Buffett Optimistic Despite War Talk — Except for on Bitcoin

By Trey Thoelcke Published Mar 3, 1:20PM EST

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Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B) appeared to shrug off concerns over Russian military movement in Ukraine’s Crimean region Monday and offered a bullish outlook on the U.S. economy and the stock market in a wide-ranging interview on CNBC. Buffett said:

The one thing you can be quite sure of is, if we went into some kind of very major war, the value of money would go down. That’s happened in virtually every war I’m aware of. The last thing you’d want to do is hold money during a war. You might want to own a farm, you might want to own an apartment house, you might want to own securities. During World War II the stock market advanced.

The Oracle of Omaha said he feels good owning shares of iconic tech giant International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM), even if its revenue trends have been weaker than anticipated. He said he opposed breaking up PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) as some activist investors have pushed for, and that he would not rule out an initial public offering of H.J. Heinz sometime in the future.

But his tone was completely different when it came to Bitcoin. He said it is “not a currency.” He called it speculative and said it would not surprise him if Bitcoin was not around in 10 or 20 years.

Buffett’s appearance on CNBC followed the release of his company’s latest earnings report and letter to shareholders over the weekend.

About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.