Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A), Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (NYSE:LEE), H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), Energizer Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ENR)
It’s no elephant, but Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) +0.37% has purchased the remaining 20% of a metal-working company for $2.05 billion. The price values IMC International Metalworking Companies at more than $10 billion, double the value Warren Buffett paid for the first 80% back in 2006. The deal is somewhat typical Buffett: He’s buying out a family he has been partnering with for some seven years and paying them a healthy amount to do it. “As you can surmise from the price we’re paying for the remaining interest, IMC has enjoyed very significant growth over the last seven years, and we are delighted to acquire the portion of the company that was retained by the Wertheimer family when IMC first became a member of the Berkshire group of companies,” Buffett said in a statement.
Lee Enterprises refinances $94M in debt with Berkshire Hathaway, avoiding interest rate hike (WashingtonPost)
Newspaper publishing company Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (NYSE:LEE) said on Tuesday that it has refinanced $94 million worth of debt with Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A), avoiding an interest rate increase that would have gone into effect next year. As part of the debt financing deal, Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (NYSE:LEE) added as collateral its 50 percent stake in TNI Partners, which publishes the Arizona Daily Star and azstarnet.com. Lee said the refinancing reduces the interest to a fixed rate of 9 percent, down from 11.3 percent, and extends the maturity from December 2015 to April 2017. The interest rate was set to rise to 12.05 percent in January 2014 and to 12.8 percent in January 2015.
Berkshire Hathaway size, Warren Buffett age cloud annual gathering (ET)
Warren Buffett may be on safari for major acquisitions, which he likes to call elephants, but shareholders may wonder if his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) has become the biggest elephant in the room. Berkshire has grown to look more and more like corporate America, as Buffett expands outside its core insurance business into such areas as energy, industrial products, newspapers, and in February ketchup, when he teamed up with Brazil’s 3G Capital investment firm to buy H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ) for $23.2 billion. Few of the 35,000 or more people who will this weekend make a pilgrimage to Berkshire’s hometown of Omaha, Nebraska for the company’s annual shareholder weekend, which Buffett calls “Woodstock for Capitalists,” are likely to criticize that strategy.
The Biggest Mistake of Warren Buffett’s Career (CountingPips)
Warren Buffett is a hero to many investors, myself included. His record speaks for itself: 18.3% annualized returns in Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A)’s book value over the past 30 years compared to just 10.8% for the S&P 500. And his returns in the 1950s and 1960s, when he was running a much smaller hedge fund, were even better. …Everyone assumes that Buffett’s decision to buy Berkshire Hathaway was a typical Buffett stroke of genius. Nothing could be further from the truth. We like to think of Warren Buffett as the wise, elder statesman of the investment profession, but Buffett too was young once and prone to the rash behavior of youth. And Berkshire Hathaway was not always a financial powerhouse; it was once a struggling textile mill.
WHITNEY TILSON: Why I Have Attended Berkshire Hathaway’s Annual Meeting Every Year For The Last 15 Years (BusinessInsider)
The Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) Annual Meeting is happening his weekend. It’s a famous event in Omaha where Warren Buffett (and his partner Charlie Munger) answer a bunch of questions from shareholders, who are also there to shop, eat, and party. Value investor Whitney Tilson, who runs Kase Capital, has only missed one of Warren Buffett’s highly-anticipated annual meetings in the last fifteen years. Tilson told us the main reason he goes to Omaha, Nebraska year after year is to learn. “Even though I have been to so many of these, I find that while many of the questions have been asked over the years, the answers sometimes change and hearing a repetition of things I’ve already heard is good to reinforce a lot of the principles of sound investing,” he told Business Insider in a telephone interview, adding, “There are always new questions and new topics that get addressed.”
Warren Buffett leans in and goes social (CNN)
Warren Buffett is going social. This Thursday at noon EST, before he commences Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A)’s annual meeting weekend, the billionaire investor will sit down for his first-ever interview that incorporates social media. The topic is new for him too: “Warren Buffett on Women and Work…and other Wisdom.” The billionaire investor is doing the Fortune live video chat to promote “Warren Buffett is Bullish on…Women,” his essay that will be published online this Thursday morning and in the 2013 Fortune 500 issue May 6. Buffett is no stranger to women — he’s an honorary guest and interview subject each year at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit. But he had never written about women. He feels motivated now, he says, by the buzz around women and work – thanks to Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) COO Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) CEO Marissa Mayer’s HR policies.
Warren Buffett’s Analogy About About Boobs And Porn Shop Operators Is Just Brilliant (BusinessInsider)
Warren Buffett, the billionaire investing legend from Nebraska, has a way of explaining complicated finance topics so that they’re fun and understandable. Carleton English of Belus Capital Advisors points us to this gem of a quote from 2008 where he takes a jab at private equity. Someone asked the Oracle of Omaha why people sell their companies to him instead of private equity firms. “You can sell it to Berkshire, and we’ll put it in the Metropolitan Museum; it’ll have a wing all by itself; it’ll be there forever. Or you can sell it to some porn shop operator, and he’ll take the painting and he’ll make the boobs a little bigger and he’ll stick it up in the window, and some other guy will come along in a raincoat, and he’ll buy it.”
IBM Buyback Proves Warren Buffett’s Math (CNBC)
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) shares are virtually unchanged from when Warren Buffett outlined in Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A)’s 2011 shareholder letter why he wouldn’t mind a flat share price over five years. International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM)’s announcement Tuesday that it will increase its quarterly dividend by 12 percent to 95 cents and authorize an additional $5 billion in share buybacks proves Buffett’s opinion, even if the “Oracle of Omaha’s” comments in the Feb. 25, 2012 shareholder letter raised some investor eyebrows. Buffett’s point to investors was share buybacks at a reasonable price can add significant value for long-term shareholders like Berkshire Hathaway.
BYD Builds in the U.S., Turns a Corner (Fool)
Warren Buffett’s Chinese automaker, BYD (BYDDY.PK) has been the subject of much criticism over the past couple of years as profits have dropped about as much as possible, only a short time after Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) announced its 10% stake in the company. Many investors have gone as far as to say this was outside of Buffett’s wheelhouse and that the investment may be one of his worst. Though I am inclined to disagree, it is difficult to argue with the tremendous loss in value for the beleaguered auto company. This week, however, brought new and interesting news to light. The company is in talks with the U.S. government to provide electric buses to cities, subsidized by Uncle Sam. Could this be a catalyst to set the company back on track toward growth?
4 Companies Warren Buffett Could Buy (Fool)
Picking stocks is not Warren Buffett’s most impressive skill. Despite Buffett’s remarkable track record of acquiring equity positions in high-performing stocks, his ability to generate value for Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) shareholders by fully acquiring outstanding businesses may be his most notable talent. Buffett and Berkshire made noise earlier this year when the company partnered with 3G Capital and agreed to purchase H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ) for over $23 billion. While any deal Buffett makes would be headline news, this deal was even more unique because of the use of debt to finance part of the transactions, and more importantly, Buffett’s willingness to pay over 20 times trailing earnings for a company while the broader market was trading around 18 times earnings. …Energizer Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ENR) Yes, the bunny. However, Energizer is actually much more than just a bunny with cool sunglasses and batteries. In fact, the company’s Household Products division, which includes batteries, only accounted for roughly 46% of total revenues in 2012. Energizer Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ENR) controls other major brands like Schick and Edge shaving products, Playtex, and Hawaiian Tropic and Banana Boat sunscreen. The company is led by CEO Ward Klein, who fits what Buffett looks for in a leader. Mr. Klein has spent over 25 years at Energizer Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ENR) and has led the company’s march into new markets.
