BUFFETT MOVE
Soros adds Netflix, exits Herbalife bet
Berkshire Hathaway cut its stakes in Goldman Sachs and Wal-Mart in Q3.
OMAHA, NEBRASKA: Investor Warren Buffett’s company sold some of its Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Wal-Mart Stores Inc shares during the third quarter, and made several smaller changes to its stock portfolio.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc filed a report on its US stocks on Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Buffett told CNBC on Monday that the main reason he reduced Berkshire’s stakes in Wal-Mart and Goldman Sachs was to generate cash for his $32 billion acquisition of Precision Castparts Corp that’s expected to close next year.
Buffett did not immediately respond to questions from the AP on Monday about the moves made by his Omaha, Nebraskabased conglomerate.
Berkshire sold 13% of its 12.6 million Goldman shares and unloaded 7% of its 60.4 million Wal-Mart shares between the end of June and the end of September. Buffett told CNBC that he still likes both those companies.
Many investors like to copy Buffett’s moves because of his remarkably successful record, so these quarterly filings are watched closely.
These combined filings include investments made by two other executives at the company, so it’s not always clear whether Buffett made the decisions.
Buffett has said previously that investments smaller than $300 million are likely to be the work of other Berkshire managers.
But Berkshire’s purchase of nearly 1.5 million more shares of IBM stock was almost certainly Buffett’s.
He has said before that he was responsible for buying what is now 81 million shares of International Business Machines Corp.
Buffett has periodically added to Berkshire’s IBM stake since he first disclosed it in late 2011 because he believes in its longterm prospects. So the fact that IBM’s stock price has fallen nearly 24% since April likely looks like a buying opportunity to Buffett.
Besides those major investments, Berkshire also reported changes in some of its other holdings, including:
Adding 9 million shares of General Motors Co to give Berkshire 50 million shares.
Eliminating 5.6 million shares of Viacom Inc shares
Nearly doubling its stake in Liberty Media Corp to 23.2 million shares from 12 million in June.
Increasing its Twenty First Century Fox Inc holdings to nearly nine million shares from 6.2 million.
Acquiring 59 million shares of AT&T Inc after the merger of AT&T and DirecTV, which Berkshire had held previously.
Besides investments in companies such as Coca-Cola Co, Wells Fargo & Co and American Express Co, Berkshire owns about 90 subsidiaries in a variety of industries, including insurance, utilities, railroads, retail and manufacturing.
In a separate development, Soros Fund Management, which manages the investments of billionaire George Soros and his family, took new stakes in video streaming company Netflix Inc and casino operator Wynn Resorts Ltd during the third quarter.
The changes were disclosed in a SEC n filing on Monday that detailed Soros’ investments as of Sept 30.
Soros said it owned 317,534 Netflix shares worth $32.79 million as of that date, and 187,103 Wynn shares worth $9.9 million.
The firm also took a 77,877 share stake worth $39.9 million in online retailer Amazon.com Inc and a 4.43 million share stake worth $137.5 million in electronic payments provider PayPal Holdings Inc.
Soros shed stakes during the quarter in two companies that have been under fire: 1,968,833 shares of weight loss and nutritional products company Herbalife Ltd, and 1,302,512 shares of airline United Continental Holdings Inc.
Herbalife has for nearly three years fended off claims by hedge fund manager William Ackman, who is shorting its stock, that it is a pyramid scheme.
Meanwhile, United chief executive Jeff Smisek resigned in September amid probes into the carrier’s relationship with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and his successor Oscar Munoz suffered a heart attack.
Monday’s filing also detailed dozens of other changes in Soros’ investments during the third quarter.