By Anupreeta Das
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. continued to add to its media-industry
holdings during the second quarter, buying a small stake in cable
operator Charter Communications Inc.
Warren Buffett's company bought 2.3 million shares of Charter
that were valued at $366 million as of June 30, according to a
regulatory filing. Berkshire also added nearly four million shares
to its position in Verizon Communications Inc. and now owns 15
million shares that were valued at $734 million. The Omaha, Neb.,
conglomerate first bought Verizon shares in the first quarter.
Berkshire also bought more shares of Liberty Global PLC, the
European cable company, but cut its stake in Liberty Media
Corp.
Berkshire's holding of satellite TV operator DirecTV decreased
during the quarter, although it still owned 23.5 million shares at
the end of June. At nearly $2 billion, the DirecTV stake is one of
the biggest holdings of Mr. Buffett's two investment managers, Todd
Combs and Ted Weschler. In May, AT&T Inc. agreed to buy DirecTV
for $49 billion.
Three of Berkshire's four biggest holdings stayed the
same--Coca-Cola Co., American Express Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.
It added about 1.8 million shares to its position of 68 million
shares in International Business Machines, a stake that was valued
at $12.7 billion at the end of June.
Write to Anupreeta Das at anupreeta.das@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires