The GHC position has been reduced, or will be when the Miami Channel 10 station changes hands, according to March 14 news, to about 100,000 shares.
(Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc plans to shed much of its 40-year-old investment in Graham Holdings Co, the former publisher of the Washington Post, and swap most of its shares for a Miami television station and other assets.
According to a Wednesday regulatory filing, Berkshire plans to turn over more than 1.61 million Graham shares worth in excess of $1.1 billion. It will receive ABC affiliate WPLG-TV in Miami, at least $400 million of Berkshire stock now owned by Graham, and cash.
The swap is designed to be tax-free, saving both companies millions of dollars. It values the TV station at $364 million, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing shows.
"I am sure this is a mutually beneficial transaction for both companies," Buffett said in a statement. "While this transaction will greatly reduce our position in Graham Holdings, our admiration for the company and its management is undiminished."
Buffett, the world's fourth-richest person, is shedding more than 90 percent of one of his oldest and most successful investments and reducing his ties to the Graham family.
The swap would leave Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire with roughly 100,000 of the 1.73 million Graham shares it owns. Those shares were worth more than $1.2 billion as of Tuesday. Berkshire paid $11 million for its stake in 1973. |
