Warren Buffett’s investment company Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) has agreed to acquire 63 newspapers from Media General Inc., making it BRK.A’s largest foray into newspapers.
Under the terms of the agreement, Berkshire Hathaway will acquire the newspapers, which include the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Winston-Salem Journal, for $142 million. Richmond, Virginia-based Media General is selling all its newspapers to BRK.A, except those in Tampa, Florida.
Although online media has posed a significant challenge to newspapers in the last few years, Buffett believes they have a decent future if they continue delivering information that cannot be found elsewhere and stop offering news free online.
Berkshire Hathaway already owns the Buffalo News of New York, which it acquired decades ago. Recently, BRK.A also acquired the Omaha World-Herald.
Buffett is not just betting on newspapers though. A regulatory filing showed that BRK.A boosted its stake in General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) in the first quarter, suggesting that Buffett is bullish on the auto industry.
Berkshire Hathaway acquired new 10 million share stake in GM in the first quarter. The fresh investment comes as GM continues to make progress after emerging from bankruptcy. GM had reported first-quarter net income of $1 billion recently, driven by strong U.S. auto sales.
According to the regulatory filing, BRK.A also boosted its stake in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), the world’s largest retailer. BRK.A boosted its stake in the retailer by nearly 8 million shares to 46.7 million shares. The investment seems to have come at the right time, as WMT today reported better-than-expected first-quarter results, driven by a 2.6% rise in U.S. same-store sales. In fact, WMT’s U.S. same-store sales have now increased for three straight quarters after falling for nine straight quarters.
WMT shares were up more than 3% in pre-market trading today.
Recent Comments