Warren Buffett’s Berkshire cuts Amazon stake by 75%, bets $351.7 million on New York Times — Check what was adjusted

Ace investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. reduced its stake in tech and retail giant Amazon by over 75% in Q4, while investing $351.7 million in the New York Times Company, Bloomberg reported citing SEC filings made on 17 February.

The report added that the filings reported Buffett’s last stock related decisions as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway before he handed over the reins to successor Greg Abel in January this year.

Meanwhile, besides the Amazon and NYT Co. stocks, the manager also adjusted positions in Apple and Bank of America (BoA), and increased stakes in Chubb and Chevron in the Q4, the report said.

Buffett’s stock adjustments for Berkshire — What we know

According to the report, the Omaha, Nebraska-based company acquired 5.1 million shares of the media publishing company in the three months through December, a stake worth $351.7 million at yearend, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday.

Berkshire first bought a stake in Amazon in 2019. Buffett said at the time that despite his historical aversion to technology stocks, he’d been “an idiot for not buying” the online retail giant’s shares sooner. It now owns roughly 2.3 million shares of the company.

Also in the fourth quarter, Berkshire continued trimming its stakes in Bank of America Corp. and Apple, Inc., bringing them to 7.1% and 1.5%, respectively. Buffett started cutting those positions in 2024.

Berkshire Hathaway also increased its stakes in oil producer Chevron Corp. and insurance firm Chubb during the period, to 6.5% and 8.7%, respectively.

The conglomerate unveiled its initial investment in Chubb in May 2024, after secretly building it the previous year. Chubb’s shares rose roughly 11% over the fourth quarter after a trade publication reported that the firm made an informal approach to buy American International Group Inc. The company denied that any offer was made.

Buffett back on the hunt for purchases?

Buffett, who stepped down as chief executive officer last year, appeared to be back on the hunt for purchases in recent quarters, reaching a deal to buy Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s petrochemical business for $9.7 billion and building a $5.6 billion stake in Alphabet Inc.

Shares of the New York Times Co. surged more than 10% in post market trading in New York.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)