转载：巴菲特完成收购奥马哈世界先驱报
2011-12-27 12:15阅读：
巴菲特将奥马哈世界先驱报纳入囊中
http://www.sina.com.cn
2011年12月27日 08:24
新浪财经微博
新浪财经讯 北京时间周二上午消息
据英国广播公司(BBC)报道，伯克希尔哈撒韦以1.5亿美元(包括承担债务)收购了董事长巴菲特家乡的报纸《奥马哈世界先驱报》。
此交易最早在11月宣布，伯克希尔哈撒韦将承担该报5000万美元债务。
巴菲特曾表示，因回报率不断下降，将不会投资报纸行业。但他已经拥有Buffalo
News并持有《华盛顿邮报》很大一部分股份。
巴菲特在与《奥马哈世界先驱报》股东一次会议上表示，“如果我认为世界先驱报将会灭绝的话，我是不会投资的。”
该报此前是在雇员所有制的体系下运营的，该报绝大多数雇员、退休者以及信托基金代表均投票支持巴菲特的收购。
《奥马哈世界先驱报》目前有1600名员工，目前每日发行量大约为13.5万份，周日发行量为17万份。
伯克希尔哈撒韦目前拥有80多家公司，并持有可口可乐与富国银行等巨头很大的股份。
该公司上月宣布已收购IBM公司价值107亿美元的股份，尽管巴菲特此次很少投资科技公司。
(明煜)
Berkshire Hathaway completes deal to buy Omaha World-Herald
newspaper company
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/industries/berkshire-hathaway-completes-200m-deal-to-buy-omaha-world-herald-newspaper-comp
any/2011/12/26/gIQAFMhrIP_story.html
By Associated Press,
OMAHA, Neb. — Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has completed the purchase of
company chairman Warren Buffett’s hometown newspaper, the Omaha
World-Herald.
The deal announced Nov. 30, for $150 million and the assumption of
$50 million in debt, ended one of the newspaper industry’s last
sizable employee-ownership plans.
World-Herald spokesman Joel Long said Monday that the deal closed
Friday. World-Herald shareholders — about 275 employees and
retirees and the Peter Kiewit Foundation — approved the sale by an
overwhelming vote, Long said. The amount employees received for
each of their shares, which are not publicly traded, wasn’t
disclosed.
Under the agreement, Berkshire acquires the flagship World-Herald
and daily newspapers in Kearney, Grand Island, York, North Platte
and Scottsbluff in Nebraska; the Council Bluffs Nonpareil in Iowa;
a number of weekly newspapers in the region; and World Marketing, a
direct-mail company with operations in Omaha, Chicago, Dallas,
Atlanta and Los Angeles.
Buffett, who is Berkshire’s chairman and chief executive, had said
he probably wouldn’t increase Berkshire’s newspaper holdings
because of the industry’s dwindling returns. Berkshire owns the
Buffalo News and it has a sizable investment in the Washington Post
Co.
But during a meeting with World-Herald shareholders, he said: “I
wouldn’t do this if I thought this was doomed to some sort of
extinction.”
The Omaha World-Herald Co. has about 1,600 employees, including
about 650 at the flagship newspaper in Omaha. Its daily circulation
is just over 135,000 and a Sunday circulation of a little over
170,000.
World-Herald CEO Terry Kroeger said when the deal was announced
that the company’s employee-ownership structure was restrictive and
had forced the newspaper to repurchase stock from departing
employees.
Buffett promised to stay out of editorial decisions at the
World-Herald Co.’s newspapers. Berkshire Hathaway usually doesn’t
make major changes at the companies it buys. Instead, Buffett likes
buying well-run companies, allowing them to continue operating in
their fashion.
When the deal was announced, Buffett said the World-Herald
“delivers solid profits and is one of the best-run newspapers in
America.”
Berkshire owns more than 80 subsidiaries, including clothing,
insurance, furniture, utility, jewelry and corporate jet companies.
It also has big investments in companies including Coca-Cola Co.
and Wells Fargo & Co.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
