Buffett bought Dow Jones stock from Bancrofts

The Wall Street Journal is reporting Wednesday that billionaire investor Warren Buffett purchased a small stake in Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Journal, from Bancroft family members while they were negotiating to sell the company to News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch.

Karen Richardson of The Journal wrote, “Berkshire owned 2.78 million Dow Jones shares valued at $159.8 million as of June 30, according to a securities filing for the second quarter. With about 85.85 million shares of Dow Jones outstanding, Berkshire’s stake would be just over 3%.

“Mr. Buffett was unavailable to comment. Marc Hamburg, Berkshire’s chief financial officer, said Berkshire didn’t request confidential filing status for disclosure of the stake, meaning Berkshire bought the shares between the end of March and the end of June. Mr. Hamburg didn’t disclose the price at which Berkshire bought the shares.

“The second quarter includes the period in which Mr. Murdoch, head of News Corp., was involved in a high-profile bid to buy Dow Jones from the Bancroft family. Mr. Buffett was mentioned by at least one Bancroft family member as among various, more favorable alternative owners to Mr. Murdoch.”

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