Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, smiles while playing bridge after Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, May 5, 2019.
Nati Harnik | PA
warren buffetIt is Berkshire Hathaway sold a significant portion of its stake in ActivisionBlizzard as Microsoft deal to buy the video game company was nearing the finish line.
The Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate disclosed a 1.9% stake in Activision with 14,658,121 shares, a new 13G deposit released Monday night showed. This compared to a 6.3% stake at the end of March and a 6.7% stake at the end of 2022.
Activision shares soared more than 9% last week following news of Federal Trade Commission loss bid to block Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition from the video game publisher. Microsoft’s appeal against blocking UK regulators on Monday was granted a two-month break.
The stock closed Monday at $93.21 apiece. In January 2022, Microsoft announced its intention to buy Activision for $95 per share.
“The Oracle of Omaha” previously revealed that one of its investment lieutenants, Ted Westchler and Todd Combs, first took a stake in Activision in October and November 2021 with an average cost of $77 per share.
The 92-year-old investing legend has since added stake in a merger arbitrage game, betting that Microsoft the proposed acquisition of the video game company would be closed.
Buffett revealed that he and his longtime business partner, Charlie Munger, began entering into merger arbitration agreements five decades ago, back when it was called “workouts.”
