Warren Buffett’s company invests in the New York Times six years after he sold all his newspapers

A sign for The New York Times is displayed above the entrance to its building in New York on May 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

OMAHA, Neb. — Five years after Warren Buffett sold off all of Berkshire Hathaway’s newspapers and predicted unending declines for most of the industry, Berkshire disclosed a new US$350 million investment in the New York Times on Tuesday.

The somewhat surprising move highlighted the quarterly update Berkshire filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission about the company’s stock holdings in Buffett’s last quarter as CEO. Berkshire also increased its investment in Chevron just before U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the arrest of Venezuela’s president, and the Omaha-based company continued selling off more of its Bank of America and Apple shares.

At the time that Buffett sold off Berkshire’s dozens of newspapers in 2020 he concluded the industry was “toast.” But even then he suggested that newspapers with a national brand like the Times or Wall Street Journal might still do well.

“It’s a full circle moment for Berkshire Hathaway in reinvesting in news and a huge vote of confidence by Berkshire in the business strategy of the New York Times,” said Tim Franklin, a professor and chair of local news at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Franklin said the Times may have its roots in the newspaper business, but today it’s a thriving digital business with popular games like Wordle, a well known sports platform called The Athletic and more than 12 million digital subscribers. He said maybe struggling local newspapers can draw some lessons from the “digital news powerhouse” the Times has become and find ways to offer online games and showcase the local sports coverage that readers can’t get elsewhere.

These quarterly stock portfolio filings don’t make clear whether Buffett made every move or whether one of Berkshire’s other investment managers did. Buffett generally handled any investments worth more than $1 billion, so at the size of this Times investment it’s not certain whether this was one of his bets.

But many investors will still try to copy it because of Buffett’s remarkable track record over the decades before he handed the CEO title over to Greg Abel in January after six decades of leading Berkshire. Shares of the Times jumped nearly three per cent in after hours trading after Berkshire disclosed the stake.

Berkshire also picked up about 8 million more Chevron shares in the quarter to give it more than 130 million shares in the oil giant. That was a particularly well-times bet because Chevron’s stock has soared since Trump promised to reinvigorate Venezuela’s oil business, but Buffett has long been bullish about the oil business and Berkshire has been a major investor in Chevron and Occidental Petroleum for several years.

Chevron is the only major American oil company with significant operations in Venezuela, where it produces about 250,000 barrels a day. Chevron, which first invested in Venezuela in the 1920s, does business in the country through joint ventures with the state-owned company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., commonly known as PDVSA. Chevron’s stock is up nearly 19% since the start of 2026 just before the U.S. captured Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro in a raid

The other notable moves Berkshire made in the last three months of 2025 included selling off roughly 50 million Bank of America shares although it still holds nearly 81 million shares of the bank that he first started buying in 2011 while Bank of America was struggling with the effects of the subprime mortgage crisis. And Berkshire trimmed about 10 million shares off its massive Apple stake but continued to hold nearly 228 million shares at the end of last year.

In addition to stocks, Berkshire owns dozens of companies outright including insurance giants like Geico, a collection of major utilities, BNSF railroad and many manufacturing and retail companies with brands like Dairy Queen and See’s Candy.

Josh Funk, The Associated Press