(Reuters) – Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired practically $1 billion of shares in Activision Blizzard Inc before Microsoft Corp agreed to purchase the online game maker for $68.7 billion, in response to a Monday regulatory submitting.
Berkshire stated that as of Dec. 31, it owned 14.7 million shares value about $975 million of the “Call of Duty” maker.
Microsoft introduced its plan to purchase Activision Blizzard on Jan. 18, in its largest ever acquisition.
Activision shares are up 23% this yr to $81.50, although they continue to be properly beneath the proposed $95 per share takeover worth, reflecting potential antitrust considerations.
Another outstanding investor, Daniel Loeb’s hedge fund Third Point, bought 2 million Activision shares within the fourth quarter.
Berkshire disclosed its Activision stake in a submitting detailing its U.S.-listed inventory investments as of Dec. 31.
Investors monitor Berkshire’s investments carefully to see the place Buffett and his funding managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler see worth.
The filings don’t say who bought and offered what, although Buffett usually handles bigger investments.
Other media have quoted Buffett, a longtime good friend of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, as saying he wouldn’t purchase Microsoft shares due to potential conflicts of curiosity.
Gates ended his 16-year run on Berkshire’s board in 2020. Buffett had been a trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation however resigned in 2021.
In the fourth quarter, Berkshire additionally added to its stake in oil firm Chevron Corp, whereas decreasing its holdings in healthcare corporations together with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and Abbvie Inc.
Apple Inc stays Berkshire’s largest widespread inventory holding.
Stock gross sales and Buffett’s six-year drought in shopping for massive entire corporations have contributed to Berkshire’s file $149.2 billion money stake as of Sept. 30, 2021, regardless of at the very least $21.9 billion of inventory buybacks that yr.
Berkshire is anticipated to reveal extra about its inventory purchases, buybacks and money on Feb. 26 when it releases year-end outcomes and Buffett’s extensively learn annual shareholder letter.
The Omaha, Nebraska-based firm additionally owns dozens of companies together with the BNSF railroad, Geico auto insurance coverage and Dairy Queen ice cream.
(Reporting by David Randall, Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additional reporting by Megan Davies; Editing by Jane Wardell and Stephen Coates)
