(Feb 18): Berkshire Hathaway Inc slashed its holding in Amazon.com Inc by more than 75% in the fourth quarter, while also building a stake in the New York Times Co — Warren Buffett’s last new bet as chief executive officer.
The conglomerate acquired 5.1 million shares of the media publishing company in the three months through December, a stake worth US$351.7 million ($446.0 million) at year end, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday.
Berkshire first bought a stake in Amazon in 2019. Buffett, 95, said at the time that despite his historical aversion to technology stocks, he’d been “an idiot for not buying” the online retail giant’s shares sooner. It now owns roughly 2.3 million Amazon shares.
The New York Times rose 1.8% to US$75.39 in early trading on Wednesday at 8.33am in New York. Amazon advanced 1.3%.
Berkshire continued trimming its stakes in Bank of America Corp and Apple Inc during the fourth quarter, bringing them to 7.1% and 1.5% respectively. Buffett started cutting those positions in 2024.
He also increased Berkshire’s stakes in oil producer Chevron Corp and insurance firm Chubb Ltd during the period, to 6.5% and 8.7% respectively.
See also: New York Times stock hits all-time high after Buffett’s blessing
Berkshire unveiled its initial investment in Chubb in May 2024, after secretly building it the previous year. Chubb’s shares rose roughly 11% over the fourth quarter after a trade publication reported that the firm made an informal approach to buy American International Group Inc. The company denied that any offer was made.
Buffett, who stepped down as CEO on Dec 31, appeared to be back on the hunt for purchases in recent quarters, reaching a deal to buy Occidental Petroleum Corp’s petrochemical business for US$9.7 billion and building a US$5.6 billion stake in Google parent Alphabet Inc.
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