Buffett's Berkshire Shows New Stakes In General Motors, Viacom
16 May 2012 - 7:58AM
Dow Jones News
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKA, BRKB) revealed
new investments in Viacom Inc. (VIA) and General Motors Co. (GM),
though both holdings were small enough to suggest they may not have
been made by the company's famous chairman.
Berkshire held 10 million shares of General Motors, the
once-struggling automaker, at the end of March, according to a
regulatory filing released Tuesday. The stake was worth $257
million.
Its holding of 1.59 million shares of Viacom, the owner of
Paramount studios and various cable networks, was valued at $75.5
million at March 31.
The holdings were the only new additions to Berkshire's
portfolio in a quarter that saw the company alter or eliminate
positions in several other stocks. But the size of the holdings
suggested they were investments made by Berkshire's new portfolio
managers, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler.
But not every move in the portfolio was revealed in the
securities filing. Berkshire said it had been granted permission by
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to keep some
information confidential for now. The last time Berkshire was given
the chance to keep a new investment hidden for a time, Buffett
himself was building a massive new position in International
Business Machines Corp. (IBM) last year.
Among the stock picks that are commonly thought to be Buffett's,
the filing revealed a larger position in long-time holding Wells
Fargo & Co. (WFC), Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) and a slightly
increased stake in IBM. Stakes in Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) and
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) declined.
Berkshire also showed no stake in long-term holding Comdisco
Holdings Co. (CDCO).
Buffett's company also reported additional shares of Bank of New
York Mellon Corp. (BK), DirecTV Group Inc. (DTV), Liberty Media
Corp.(LMCA) and dialysis provider DaVita Inc. (DVA). Stakes in
Dollar General Corp. (DG), Intel Corp. (INTC) and Verisk Analytics
Inc. (VRSK) dropped.
Berkshire's total U.S. stock investments were worth $75.3
billion at the end of the first quarter, up from the $66.2 billion
Berkshire reported at the end of 2011. Buffett's company, like
other firms that control an investment portfolio of more than $100
million, is required to report its U.S. stock holdings 45 days
after the end of a given quarter.
News about Berkshire's stock picks has the power to move the
market. Some money managers use the disclosure to mimic the
investment success of the "Oracle of Omaha."
But Buffett, 81, has repeatedly warned that not all the moves in
the investment portfolio are his. A portion of the portfolio was
long managed by Lou Simpson, the investment manager at
Berkshire-owned car insurer Geico Corp. He stepped down a year ago
and Combs and Weschler have stepped in.
"When our quarterly filings report relatively small holdings,
these are not likely to be buys I made but rather holdings denoting
purchases by Todd or Ted," Buffett wrote in his widely read
shareholder letter in February.
Each of the two men has been handed "a few billion dollars" of
Berkshire's money to invest initially, Buffett said in the letter.
But they will gradually get more of Berkshire's money to invest
over time and may be joined by a third investment manager. Upon
Buffett's eventual departure from the company, the managers would
take over Berkshire's entire portfolio.
"They have the brains, judgment and character" for the job,
Buffett wrote.
-By Erik Holm, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2892;
erik.holm@dowjones.com
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