Berkshire Hathaway is selling Apple shares and building its cash pile to record highs as Warren Buffett expects the government will soon raise capital gains taxes

Berkshire Hathaway's cash reserves are at an all-time high of $325.2 billion as Warren Buffett quickly exits one of his most profitable businesses of the last decade.

The Oracle of Omaha and its conglomerate holding company Berkshire began dumping shares of Apple late last year, reducing a big bet on the technology company it opened in 2016.

Berkshire accelerated its sales pace earlier this year and had halved its stake in Apple by the end of the second quarter Financial Times reported, which helped its cash reserves reach an all-time high of $277 billion at the time.

But at the end of the third quarter, Berkshire Hathaway surpassed its previous cash record by selling another quarter of its shares in the technology company, or 100 million shares, reducing the total number of shares from 400 million to 300 million.

In just over a year, the company has sold more than two-thirds of its shares to Apple. Although the tech company is still the largest holding, with $69.9 billion worth of shares, Apple accounted for $178 billion of Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio at its peak.

The Apple selling spree comes as Buffett has reduced his stock holdings across the board over the past two years. In the third quarter, Berkshire bought just $1.5 billion worth of shares, making it a net seller of stocks for the eighth consecutive quarter. CNN reported.

Berkshire's $325.2 billion in cash and short-term Treasury bonds now exceeds the market value of its shares, which stood at $271.6 billion at the end of the third quarter, according to its most recent earnings report. While some have questioned Berkshire's big stock sales, the company has done quite well over the past three years: Shares rose 52%, outpacing the S&P 500's 22% rise over the same period.

Check out this interactive chart on Fortune.com

One reason for the massive stock sell-off is Buffett's prediction that the capital gains tax rate will rise in the next few years, perhaps to help pay down the federal deficit, which stood at about 122% of the country's GDP in 2023.

“I would say, given current fiscal policy, I think something has to give, and I think higher taxes are quite likely,” Buffett said during Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting in May.

Vice President Kamala Harris said that if elected president, she would increase the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump has promised to cut the corporate tax rate to 15% for companies that make products in the United States

While Buffett said Berkshire Hathaway would keep Apple as its largest investment, he added that he wanted to have more cash on hand.

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