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Warren Buffett CNBC Interview: Berkshire Hathaway Repurchases Shares – 2018 – Birthday – August

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During an interview with CNBC, Warren Buffett confirmed Berkshire Hathaway Inc. recently bought back shares of the company.

“We bought back a little. We tie it now to intrinsic business value, which we should have done all along, but for awhile, book value was a good proxy,” Buffett said.

In July, Berkshire approved an amendment of its stock buyback program giving Buffett and Charlie Munger more ability in deciding when to repurchase the company’s shares. The added flexibility allows Buffett and Munger to repurchase shares when the price is below the stock’s intrinsic value.

Watch CNBC’s interview with Warren Buffett from CNBC.

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Finance

Warren Buffett Ups Stake in Apple, Airlines, Dumps Walmart, Warns Against Retail

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Warren Buffett’s, Berkshire Hathaway, recently upped their stake in Apple, buying 72 million shares in a month, after Apple reported a 3% increase in sales in the final quarter of 2016. The company’s Apple stake now totals 133 million shares, worth about $17 billion.

On the other end, Berkshire dumped around $900 million worth of Walmart stock, reinvesting those funds in the airline industry. The billionaire investor called the retail industry “too tough” and warned against investing in it.

In an interview with CNBC, Buffett praised retailer Amazon, “That is a tough, tough, tough competitive force. Now Walmart is pushing forward online themselves. They have got all kinds of strengths, but I just decided that I’d look for a little easier game.”

“I think retailing is just too tough or me, just generally,” Buffett said. “We bought a department store in 1966 and I got my head handed to me. I’ve been in various things in retailing – I bought Tesco over in the UK and got my head handed to me. Retailing is very tough, and I think the online thing is hard to figure out.”

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Finance

Berkshire-Hathaway Finalizes Acquisition of Buffett’s Hometown Paper

Berkshire-Hathaway this week finalized a deal in which it acquired the Omaha World-Herald, CEO Warren Buffett’s hometown newspaper. The deal, announced November 30th, entailed Buffett’s conglomerate paying $150 million in cash and assuming another $50 million in debt, and brought to an end one of the newspaper industry’s last remaining employee-ownership plans. According to a spokesman for the paper, about 275 current and former employees, the company’s shareholders, approved the buyout by an overwhelming margin earlier this month. The actual amount the employees got for their privately held shares was not disclosed.

Under the agreement, Berkshire will take control of the World-Herald and its subsidiary newspapers. These include daily newspapers in the Nebraska towns of Kearney, North Platte, Scottsbluff, York and Grand Island; in addition to a Council Bluff, Iowa paper, several weekly papers in the region, and World Marketing, a direct-mail advertiser with offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Omaha and Los Angeles. Prior to the acquisition, Buffett had vowed to avoid investments in newspapers because of the industry’s declining profits over the last few years.

Before buying his hometown paper, Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway did own a newspaper in Buffalo and held a sizable stake in the Washington Post’s parent company, one of the biggest newspaper publishers in the world. During a meeting with World-Herald shareholders, Buffett was asked about his comments about the newspaper industry, and assured shareholders he wouldn’t be buying the company if he thought the industry was doomed.

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Finance Real Estate

Berkshire-Hathaway’s Post Warren Buffett Management Plans

Renowned investor Warren Buffett sat down recently for an in-depth interview with CBS, a spot that will be aired as part of the network’s “60 Minutes” episode next Sunday. Buffett spoke about the future leadership plans of his Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate, which is very much up in the air with Buffett having turned 81 this year. Buffett indicated that he would be replaced as chairman of Berkshire by his son Howard, upon his death, but also noted that no member of his family wanted to be considered for the role of chief executive of the company.

Buffett indicated that his role as CEO, when he steps down, will be filled by a CEO working together with either three or four investment managers, each responsible for their own portions of Berkshire’s holdings. Buffett has been considering what role his son will play in the company for some time, and discussed the issue at Berkshire’s latest annual meeting. “It is certainly my hope that Howie succeeds me as Chairman, but the CEO job he has never had any interest in having,” Warren Buffett said, adding: “When people think of my successor, they are thinking of who will be CEO. No [family] member has ever wanted to be or has been considered for that.”

Howard Buffett is a farmer by trade, but does have management experience through his positions on the Berkshire board of directors and running a foundation that helps farmers in emerging countries.