Gold’s blistering rally: Can it now break Warren Buffett's iron will?

Warren Buffett, true to form, remains unmoved — sticking to his decades-old view that gold is an unproductive asset with no place in a value investor’s portfolio.

The Berkshire Hathaway chairman has famously dismissed gold as an unproductive asset that generates no cash flows or economic value — unlike businesses that reinvest profits or commodities like silver with extensive industrial utility.

“Gold… has two significant shortcomings, being neither of much use nor procreative,” Buffett wrote in his 2011 letter to shareholders, back when the metal had hit then-record highs near $1,920 an ounce. “If you own one ounce of gold for an eternity, you will still own one ounce at its end.”

Buffett’s skepticism hasn’t wavered, even as the metal repeatedly proves its mettle in turbulent times. A brief foray into gold miners in 2020 — when Berkshire Hathaway picked up a stake in Barrick Gold at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic — was quickly unwound within two quarters, reinforcing that the move was opportunistic rather than a strategic shift. Crucially, even that investment was in a productive gold mining company, not in gold bullion itself.

Buffett has also been dismissive of gold’s supposed role as a crisis hedge, often mocking the costs of storing an asset that, in his view, simply “sits there and looks at you.” Speaking to CNBC in 2009, he remarked, “It won’t do anything between now and then except look at you,” summing up his disdain for the metal’s passivity.

Live Events

The yellow metal has nearly doubled in a