U.S. stocks pulled back from their all-time high on Monday, with the S&P 500 down 0.15%, while the narrower, price-weighted Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2%.
Despite this, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), Wall Street’s “fear index,” continued its descent, shedding 1.17% to close at 11.84. (The VIX is calculated from S&P 500 option prices and reflects investor expectations for stock market volatility over the coming 30 days.)
“Get your Post here! Just $250 million.”
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos is acquiring The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO)‘s newspaper publishing business, including its flagship daily, for $250 million. It bears emphasizing that Bezos is acquiring it as a private citizen — this is not a case of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) swallowing the Post.
Rather than speculate on Bezos’ motives or what it means for the future of media, I thought it would be an opportune time to examine how well Berkshire Hathaway — the The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO)’s largest investor – has done on its investment. In his 1993 Chairman’s Letter, Warren Buffett wrote:
In 1973, we purchased our stock in her company for about $10 million. Our holding now garners $7 million a year in dividends and is worth over $400 million. At the time of our purchase, we knew that the economic prospects of the company were good.
At that time, his investment in the The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO) had proved spectacular, producing an annualized return in the region of 20% over a 20-year period — and that’s before you include dividends. But note that the 14.8% stake Berkshire owned in the company at the end of 1993 was then worth 60% more than the sum Bezos is now paying for all the newspaper publishing assets.
Indeed, over the ensuing 19-and-a-half years, the performance of the The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO)’s stock has been very disappointing. The following table shows the total return (i.e., including dividends) of the shares vs. that of the S&P 500 and Berkshire Hathaway shares between the end of 1993 and today:
| Washington Post | S&P 500 | Berkshire Hathaway (“A” shares) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total return (annualized) | 6.2% | 8.9% | 12.9% |
Source: Author’s calculations based on data from Yahoo! Finance, CBOE, and S&P Dow Jones Indices.
It’s a good bet that any other investment Buffett made during that period would have been a better use of shareholder wealth than The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO) shares. At least, he didn’t throw good money after bad — he hasn’t added a single share to the position since at least 1977 (he even sold a few in 1985).
Is there any justification for hanging to a stock that has lagged the market over a span of two decades? Buffett has warned shareholders in the past that he will not sell businesses simply because they are underperforming. There is a logic to that attitude, as it is a competitive advantage as a buyer of family-owned/ closely held businesses. Although The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO) isn’t one of Berkshire’s operating companies, it appears that the depth and duration of the ties Buffett established with the Graham family led him to treat this common stock investment in the same manner.
The article Warren Buffett’s Awful Two-Decade Investment originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Alex Dumortier.
Fool contributor Alex Dumortier, CFA has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Berkshire Hathaway.
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