Berkshire Hathaway's Stealth Top Ten Holding

Here's the most recent published list of Berkshire Hathaway's top investment holdings:

Company       % of Port
-------       ---------
Apple         14.63
Wells Fargo   14.54
Kraft Heinz   13.24
Bank of Amer  10.48
Coca Cola      9.60
Amer Express   7.87
Phillips 66    4.27
US Bancorp     2.44

Over the past few years, Berkshire has been making a number of smaller investments in John Malone's media empire companies. (These positions are usually attributed to Ted Weschler by the financial media, though nobody knows for sure.) Each one is small, but they add up when you put them together. While Buffett's style is to roll every subsidiary up into a huge conglomerate, Malone's style is to break his empire apart into many smaller, publicly-traded entities.

Company             % of Port
-------             ---------
Charter Comm        1.49
Liberty SiriusXM C  0.64
Sirius XM Holdings  0.39
Liberty Global A    0.38
Liberty SiriusXM A  0.31
Liberty Global C    0.13
Liberty Lilac A     0.03
Liberty Lilac C     0.01
                    ----
Total               3.38

Technically, Sirius XM (SIRI) might not be on the list of Malone companies, but Liberty SiriusXM controls 69% of SiriusXM, so I'm counting it.

If there was one John Malone company the way there is one Warren Buffett company, it would make up 3.38% of Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio, making it the eighth largest holding.

Berkshire News Briefs - 5/5/17

The Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting is this Saturday in Omaha. Once again this year, Yahoo Finance will live stream the meeting. It all starts Saturday, May 6, 2017 at 10am EST (9am for the people in Omaha).

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Berkshire Buys $250M In Sirius Tracking Stock

[...] in the last two weeks, subsidiaries of Berkshire Hathaway have bought more than a quarter billion dollars in shares of Liberty Media (LSXMA, LSXMK) that track Sirius XM Holdings (SIRI).

On April 19, Berkshire disclosed that it was a 10% holder of Liberty SiriusXM : 10.7 million series A shares and 23.4 million series C shares.

Since then, Berkshire has only hauled in more shares. From April 20 through 24, its subsidiaries have bought 2,470,117 more series A shares for $98.7 million and 3,875,011 more series C shares for $155 million. [...]

Liberty Media's CEO thanked Ted Weschler by name in a tweet about the purchase.

Warren Buffett has sold IBM shares, and 'revalued' tech icon downward, cites 'big strong competitors'

Buffett, who owned about 81 million shares of IBM at the end of 2016, sold off about a third of that stake in the first and second quarters of 2017, he told CNBC.

"I don't value IBM the same way that I did 6 years ago when I started buying... I've revalued it somewhat downward," Buffett told CNBC. "When it got above $180 we actually sold a reasonable amount of stock."

Buffett said IBM hadn't performed the way he had expected -- or the way IBM's management had expected -- when he first started buying the shares six years ago. [...]

Berkshire's Duracell sues over gray market battery imports

Duracell, a unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, on Thursday filed a lawsuit accusing a Missouri wholesaler of illegally selling gray market versions of its copper-top alkaline batteries.

According to a complaint filed in federal court in Chicago, JRS Ventures Inc is importing and selling batteries made in China that were intended for sale only to Duracell's original equipment manufacturers, to be packaged with products such as appliances and remote controls.

Duracell, which long used the tagline "no regular battery looks like it or lasts like it," said JRS's batteries do look like its own but come in packaging that does not mention Duracell's 10-year guarantee or how to obtain customer service. [...]

Why Warren Buffett's candy company canceled its East Coast expansion

[...] And yet, See’s isn’t super well-known outside of the West Coast. Its dual headquarters are in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and the lion’s share of its 250 stores are in California.

Back in 2012, See’s mapped out a plan to change that. CEO Brad Kinstler, a former insurance CEO tapped by Buffett to run See’s in 2005 (and still there today), formed an ambitious expansion plan. The aim was to open new See’s stores in Florida, Georgia, Maryland, and Washington, DC.

That didn’t happen; there still aren’t See’s stores in any of those places. The expansion of See’s to the East Coast fizzled. The reason? The broader demise of brick-and-mortar retail.

“Our hope was to develop more markets to the East,” Kinstler now tells Yahoo Finance. “But the brick-and-mortar and the indoor mall environment has changed the view we have on the potential to add new trade areas. Foot traffic in these more traditional settings is an impediment to new trade area success.” [...]

See’s did open its first ever New York store in January of this year, in Manhattan’s West Village. But it is a licensee shop, not owned or operated by See’s. [...]

Clayton builds $14M training lodge, donates old structures for safehouses

Clayton, a Berkshire Hathaway home building company, is constructing a $14 million training lodge at its corporate headquarters in Maryville.

The three-story, log cabin-style lodge will replace the old lodge currently on the company's campus. [...]

Clayton is working with a Dayton nonprofit called Blazing Hope Ranch to re-purpose some of its old structures. The organization aids survivors of human trafficking and will use some of the old buildings on the lodge site to house survivors. [...]

20 surprising products Berkshire offers, including sump pumps, truck brakes, explosion-proof enclosures

Looks like the Omaha World Herald hasn't learned how to properly turn articles like this into a 20 page slideshow to maximize ad revenue and social media sharing. Here's the first 5 on the list. #14 will make you squeal!

1. Keep it dry: Automatic sump pumps from Wayne Water Systems

2. Lift it: Truck-mounted telescoping cranes from Stahl

3. Warm it: Heating & AC ductwork from Snappy Co.

4. Brighten it: LED lighting from TTI Inc.

5. Wire it: 90-degree conduit pull elbow from Halex

[...]

Berkshire Hathaway 3rd Quarter Portfolio Update

Berkshire Hathaway released its quarterly portfolio holdings report (13F) last Friday. The big changes were a new stake SA-rec Express Scripts, a big increase in Charter Communications, and a complete sell-off of its stake in John Deere.

Here's a handy summary from Dataroma: Quarterly Activity -- Updated Holdings

Commentary:

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway adds Express Scripts, dumps Deere (Fortune)

In the third quarter, Buffett’s insurance conglomerate added shares of Express Scripts to its widely followed investment portfolio. Express Scripts processes the paperwork for insurance companies and pharmacies, and makes sure the pharmacies get paid. [...] But it was not a large bet for Berkshire, and it’s likely the investment was made by either Todd Combs or Ted Weschler, who have started to manage a larger portion of Berkshire’s portfolio. [...]

Berkshire made a few other changes to its portfolio in the third quarter. Berkshire sold all of its shares of Deere in the third quarter. It held nearly $360 million worth of the tractor maker’s shares at the end of June. Berkshire also added to its stake in car giant General Motors as well as credit card companies Mastercard and Visa, and tripled its stake in Liberty Media, which is part of John Malone’s cable empire.

Berkshire Takes Express Scripts Stake; Some Trades Secret (Bloomberg)

Holdings in General Motors Co. rose by 21 percent and an investment in Charter Communications Inc. more than doubled in size during the third quarter, Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire also said yesterday in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. A stake in DirecTV climbed. [...]

The report omitted some data that was reported confidentially to regulators. The SEC sometimes allows companies to withhold data from the public to limit copycat investing while a firm is building or cutting a position.

Buffett requested confidential treatment in 2011 filings, as he spent more than $10 billion amassing a stake in International Business Machines Corp. He did the same while building a holding in Exxon Mobil Corp. in 2013.

Berkshire News Briefs - 5/30/13

Berkshire Hathaway’s MidAmerican expands Western footprint with $5.6 billion buy of NV Energy (Washington Post)

Berkshire Hathaway’s MidAmerican Energy utility said Wednesday that it will buy Nevada electric and natural gas company NV Energy Inc. for $5.6 billion as it expands its footprint in the energy sector. MidAmerican has been aggressively investing in renewable energy projects in recent years, and the companies expect that MidAmerican’s experience will help NV Energy develop renewable projects in Nevada, which has vast solar, wind and geothermal resources.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway buys The Roanoke (Va.) Times for undisclosed price (Washington Post)

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is adding The Roanoke (Va.) Times to its growing group of small and medium-sized newspapers. Berkshire said Thursday it will acquire The Times from Landmark Media Enterprises on Friday. It will be Berkshire’s 30th daily newspaper. Financial terms were not disclosed. Berkshire says The Roanoke Times has daily circulation of 76,000 and Sunday circulation of 90,000.

Newest director doesn't own Berkshire Hathaway shares (Omaha World Herald)

Meryl Witmer, an investment fund manager for Eagle Capital Partners in New York City, is the newest member of Berkshire's board of directors and, so far, the only one of its 13 members who doesn't own Berkshire shares. Shareholders elected Witmer on May 4 to the board of the Omaha-based conglomerate headed by Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett. She disclosed her non-ownership status in a filing this week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The other 12 directors own Berkshire shares ranging from Buffett's $59 billion and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates' $10.2 billion to the $350,000 worth of stock owned by Susan Decker, former president of Yahoo, who joined the board in 2007.

H.J. Heinz Company Announces Receipt of Chinese Regulatory Approval Required for the Acquisition of Heinz by Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital (MarketWatch)

H.J. Heinz Company today announced that it has received regulatory approval from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce for the acquisition of Heinz by an investment consortium comprised of Berkshire Hathaway and an investment fund affiliated with 3G Capital. The transaction remains subject to certain customary closing conditions, including receipt of certain remaining regulatory approvals, and is now expected to close in early- to mid-June. Heinz has received antitrust clearance in the United States, Brazil, India, South Korea, Japan, Israel, Mexico, South Africa and Ukraine, and other regulatory approvals in Russia, New Zealand and Ireland. The Company is waiting for antitrust clearance in the European Union and Russia.

Will 3G Capital make massive changes at Heinz? (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Knowledge that the new owners -- a partnership between 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway -- will put every expense and every product under a microscope has the 1,200 Heinz employees in the Pittsburgh region polishing their resumes, networking with professional contacts and keeping their options open. "If this was only Berkshire Hathaway, I would say Heinz is going to be Heinz," said University of Pittsburgh business school professor Jay Sukits. "The wild card here, to me, is 3G." Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett is known for buying and holding well-run companies such as Heinz. But 3G Capital could have a shorter-term view. The New York private equity firm has earned a reputation for aggressively and quickly cutting costs at companies it acquires [...]

Buffett's Berkshire Thinks This Bankruptcy Deal Stinks (Fool)

Residential Capital is moving rapidly toward exiting bankruptcy -- and Warren Buffett is not pleased. [...] This stake in ResCap's debt makes Buffett a major player in ResCap's bankruptcy proceedings. It gives Buffett a voice in agreeing to (or refusing) settlement negotiations to resolve creditor claims against ResCap, and it could result in an equity stake in the company if it exits bankruptcy -- and that's where things get complicated. [...] Buffett and Berkshire are right to push for full transparency in these bankruptcy proceedings, so that all interested players know what they're being asked to give up -- not just what Ally is offering to give them.

What Brooks Has Learned Working With Buffett (Fool Video)

Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary Brooks Sports is drawing quite a bit of attention from Buffett devotees these days. The running shoe maker has sprinted to 34% volume growth in both 2011 and 2012, with U.S. sales growth hitting the tape at 43% by the end of last year. Our roving reporter Rex Moore caught up with Brooks CEO Jim Weber at the recent Berkshire shareholder meeting in Omaha. In this segment of a multipart series, Jim says working under the Berkshire umbrella has taught him a lot about the power of the brand.

Berkshire Hathaway unit buys another Louisville realty firm (Louisville Business First)

HomeServices of Kentucky Inc., which owns Louisville-based Semonin Realtors, has agreed to purchase Louisville real estate firm Wakefield Reutlinger Realtors. The purchase is expected to become effective June 1. HomeServices of Kentucky is a wholly owned subsidiary of HomeServices of America Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate.

Berkshire’s Weschler Holds Almost $150 Million of DaVita (Bloomberg)

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the largest shareholder in DaVita (DVA) HealthCare Partners Inc., said deputy stock picker Ted Weschler has a personal holding in the dialysis provider valued at almost $150 million. Weschler has 1.19 million shares, or about 1.1 percent, of the Denver-based company, according to a regulatory filing yesterday. The holding was amassed before he joined Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire, according to the document. [...] Berkshire has a stake of 14 percent. The filing yesterday outlines an agreement by Weschler, 52, and Berkshire about the separation of their holdings.

Berkshire Hathaway Acquires 5% Stake In Starz (ValueWalk)

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. recently submitted a 13G filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which showed that the conglomerate acquired 5.03 percent stake or 5,622,340 shares of Starz. Formerly known as Liberty Media Corp, Starz is a global media and entertainment company. Its offers premium subscription video programming services through its flagship pay TV networks, Starz and Encore to various channels video distributors such as cable operators, satellite television providers, and telecommunications companies. Starz and Encore have 21.6 and 35.1 subscribers respectively as of March 31, 2013. [...] The regulatory filing of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. revealed that its investment manager, Ted Weschler owns 285,834 shares of Starz.

Berkshire Sues NeighborCity.com in IP Dispute (Technorati)

Berkshire Hathaway has filed a lawsuit against NeighborCity.com, a real estate listing portal, despite the fact that the Warren Buffet’s company is a licensee of the latter. Berkshire is accusing the San Francisco-based company of copyright infringement when it allegedly reproduced, displayed, and distributed protected content such as photographs without any authorization from Berkshire’s listing services. The disagreement between the two companies shows how intellectual property (IP) rights can be used as a competitive tool in ecommerce and Internet-based lead generation and transactions.

Warren Buffett Lunch Auction To Kick Off June 2 (HuffPost)

Warren Buffett has already helped raise nearly $15 million over the years for a San Francisco homeless charity, and the group hopes someone will again be willing to pay more than $2 million for a private lunch with the Omaha, Neb., investor. [...] Bidding for the lunch on eBay will begin at $25,000 on the evening of June 2 and continue through June 7.