According to Bloomberg, which cited SEC filings on February 17, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the company of renowned investor Warren Buffett, cut its ownership of the tech and retail behemoth Amazon by more than 75% in Q4 and invested $351.7 million in the New York Times Company.
Before he turned the helm over to successor Greg Abel in January of this year, Buffett made his final stock-related decisions as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, according to the records, the article claimed.
According to the report, the manager also increased interests in Chubb and Chevron in the fourth quarter and modified positions in Apple and Bank of America (BoA) in addition to Amazon and NYT Co. stocks.
What we know about Buffett’s stock changes for Berkshire
In the three months ending in December, the Omaha, Nebraska-based corporation purchased 5.1 million shares of the media publishing company, which, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday, represented a holding of $351.7 million at year-end.
In 2019, Berkshire made its initial investment in Amazon. Despite his past distaste for technology equities, Buffett claimed at the time that he had been “an idiot for not buying” the online retail behemoth’s shares sooner. It currently holds about 2.3 million of the company’s shares.
Berkshire continued to reduce its holdings in Apple, Inc. and Bank of America Corp. during the fourth quarter, bringing them down to 1.5% and 7.1%, respectively. In 2024, Buffett began reducing their roles.
During this time, Berkshire Hathaway also raised its ownership in insurance company Chubb and oil producer Chevron Corp. to 8.7% and 6.5%, respectively.
In May 2024, the company revealed its first investment in Chubb, which it had built covertly the year before. After a trade journal revealed that Chubb had made an informal attempt to purchase American International Group Inc., the company’s stock increased by almost 11% during the fourth quarter. The business denied receiving an offer.
Is Buffett looking to buy again?
With an agreement to acquire Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s petrochemical division for $9.7 billion and a $5.6 billion stake in Alphabet Inc., Buffett, who resigned as CEO last year, seemed to be back on the lookout for acquisitions in recent quarters.
In post-market trading in New York, the New York Times Co.’s stock jumped by over 10%.
