diff --git a/dlls/oleaut32/vartype.c b/dlls/oleaut32/vartype.c
index efaeb4e4f1c..f3baa58723d 100644
--- a/dlls/oleaut32/vartype.c
+++ b/dlls/oleaut32/vartype.c
@@ -5672,7 +5672,7 @@ HRESULT WINAPI VarBstrCat(BSTR pbstrLeft, BSTR pbstrRight, BSTR *pbstrOut)
   if (!*pbstrOut)
     return E_OUTOFMEMORY;
 
-  *pbstrOut = '\0';
+  (*pbstrOut)[0] = '\0';
 
   if (pbstrLeft)
     strcpyW(*pbstrOut, pbstrLeft);