Posted on 08/15/2007 1:44:59 AM PDT by bruinbirdman
Billionaire Warren Buffett's holding company bought nearly 2.8 million shares of Dow Jones & Co. earlier this year before Rupert Murdoch sealed his deal to buy The Wall Street Journal's publisher.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. filed its quarterly summary of its $61.1 billion portfolio of US stocks with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. The filing did not state how much Berkshire paid for the Dow Jones shares.
Berkshire bought the Dow Jones shares sometime in April, May or June, so it could have paid as little as $34 a share. Berkshire held 2.78 million shares of Dow Jones stock, worth about $159.8 million, at the end of June.
The Dow Jones purchase runs counter to Buffett's well-established opinion that newspapers face long-term challenges because the economics of the business are eroding. But Berkshire's Dow Jones ownership is likely to be short term.
Murdoch's News Corp. reached an agreement to pay $5 billion to acquire Dow Jones on August 1. Berkshire's summary reveals several changes in the company's holdings as of June 30, but Berkshire's recent investments in two major freight railroads were omitted.
Berkshire regularly asks the Securities and Exchange Commission for the ability not to immediately disclose its holdings. Berkshire says the information could hurt its trading strategy because the market likes to follow what the 'Oracle of Omaha's' company does.
Buffet is a Liberal.
As such, he would have no inherent interest in Dow Jones except as an investment play.
But the Bancrofts et. al. were doing the same thing that Queer Boy is doing at the NYTimes, i.e. burying the company.
Buffet had insider information - there is no other plausible explanation.
If Martha Stewart got nailed for her pittance of a timed investment, Buffet should be crucified.
this smells of insider trading....
put lib/dem buffet in jail......
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