Shares rose 0.8 percent to push the company's market capitalisation above the trillion-dollar mark for the first time. 

As a result of the Apple sale, Berkshire Hathaway’s cash and cash equivalents surged by $88 billion, reaching a record high of $277 billion in Quarter 2 this year.

The scale of the sell-off has taken financial pundits by surprise; was it because of the high capital gain tax in the US?