"The famed investor's conglomerate scooped up around 5.1 million shares of the newspaper publisher, securing a stake worth $352 million at December's close, a Tuesday filing revealed. The position's small size points to one of Buffett's two investment managers at the time - Ted Weschler and the since-departed Todd Combs - making the purchase. Buffett is a lifelong lover of newspapers. He delivered 500,000 papers as a teenager running multiple routes, and for years, he challenged shareholders to best him at newspaper tossing during Berkshire's annual meetings. He went from throwing newspapers to owning dozens of publishers, including The Buffalo News and The Omaha World-Herald."
"During Berkshire's 2010 meeting, he recalled looking at the circulation of major titles such as the San Francisco Chronicle, and said it "blows your mind how fast people are dropping it." "The world has really changed, in terms of the essential nature of newspapers," he said. "In 1965 or 1970, there was "probably nothing looked more bulletproof than a daily newspaper where the competition had melted away," he continued."
Berkshire Hathaway acquired roughly 5.1 million shares of The New York Times, a stake valued at $352 million at December's close. The purchase size suggests one of Buffett's investment managers, Ted Weschler or Todd Combs, likely executed the trade. Buffett has a lifelong history with newspapers, from delivering hundreds of thousands of papers as a teenager to owning numerous regional publishers such as The Buffalo News and The Omaha World-Herald. He was close to major publishers like Katharine Graham and served as a financial backer for The Washington Post. By 2010, Buffett publicly noted steep declines in circulation and advertising and observed that newspapers had lost immediacy.
Read at Business Insider
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