Berkshire Hathaway Continued Investing in Media in Second Quarter

   By Anupreeta Das 
 

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. continued to add to its media-industry holdings during the second quarter, buying a small stake in cable operator Charter Communications Inc.

Warren Buffett's company bought 2.3 million shares of Charter that were valued at $366 million as of June 30, according to a regulatory filing. Berkshire also added nearly four million shares to its position in Verizon Communications Inc. and now owns 15 million shares that were valued at $734 million. The Omaha, Neb., conglomerate first bought Verizon shares in the first quarter. Berkshire also bought more shares of Liberty Global PLC, the European cable company, but cut its stake in Liberty Media Corp.

Berkshire's holding of satellite TV operator DirecTV decreased during the quarter, although it still owned 23.5 million shares at the end of June. At nearly $2 billion, the DirecTV stake is one of the biggest holdings of Mr. Buffett's two investment managers, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler. In May, AT&T Inc. agreed to buy DirecTV for $49 billion.

Three of Berkshire's four biggest holdings stayed the same--Coca-Cola Co., American Express Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. It added about 1.8 million shares to its position of 68 million shares in International Business Machines, a stake that was valued at $12.7 billion at the end of June.

Write to Anupreeta Das at [e-mail]

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires