OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Billionaire Warren Buffett's holding Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has bought nearly 14 million shares of Carmax Inc., the nation's largest specialty used-car retailer, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday.
Berkshire bought the shares -- its first stake in the Richmond, Va.-based company -- sometime in July, August or September, according to Berkshire's quarterly summary of its $65.8 billion portfolio of U.S. stocks.
Carmax operates 86 used car stores nationwide in 39 markets and is preparing to open a new store in Omaha next month about 12 miles west of Buffett's office. Carmax says it sold 337,021 used vehicles and 208,959 wholesale vehicles at auction last year.
Berkshire's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission doesn't say how much the company paid for the shares, which represent about a 6.4 percent stake in Carmax, but they were worth more than $284 million at the end of the quarter on Sept. 30.
Carmax shares gained 13 cents to close at $21.47 Wednesday before the filing was made public. They gained $1.28, or 6 percent, in after-hours trading.
Berkshire again cut its holdings in two railroad companies, Norfolk Southern Corp. and Union Pacific Corp., after months of buying.
Berkshire said it held 4.5 million shares of Union Pacific as of Sept. 30, down from the 7.4 million shares of the Omaha-based railroad that Berkshire held June 30. It's less than half of the 10.5 million shares of the railroad Berkshire held March 31, according to an earlier filing.
Berkshire also said it held 1.9 million shares of Norfolk Southern as of Sept. 30, less than the 3.8 million it owned as of June 30. Earlier this year, Berkshire held nearly 6.4 million shares of Norfolk Southern.
But Buffett's interest in its biggest railroad investment doesn't seem to be waning. An Oct. 5 filing showed he held 60.8 million shares of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. Buffett's company controls 17.2 percent of the nation's second-largest railroad.
Berkshire also now holds 2.7 million shares of Wabco Holdings Inc., a vehicle control systems business spun off of American Standard Cos. Berkshire would have received Wabco shares as part of the spinoff because it owned American Standard shares -- 10.96 million at the end of September.
Meanwhile, Berkshire bought about 3.6 million more shares of Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal. Berkshire owned 6.3 million shares of Dow Jones, worth $378.8 million, at the end of the quarter, after a purchase of nearly 2.8 million shares earlier this year before Rupert Murdoch sealed his deal to buy the company.
Berkshire continued adding to banking holdings during the quarter, buying 28.4 million shares of U.S. Bancorp, the parent company of U.S. Bank. Berkshire also bought more than 22 million shares of Wells Fargo & Co., bringing its total to 280 million shares.
Berkshire bought fewer shares -- just 400,000 -- of Bank of America Corp., and maintained its 6.7 million shares of M&T Bank Corp.
Between July 1 and Sept. 30, Berkshire also made several other moves, including:
-- Selling all its nearly 4 million shares in Servicemaster Co., a Downers Grove, Ill.-based lawn-care and pest-control provider. The shares were valued at $61.8 million.
-- Selling all its 6.3 million shares in diversified manufacturer Tyco International Ltd. The shares were valued at $213.2 million.
-- Unloading its last 3.2 million shares of The Western Union Co., which offers money-transfer services through 320,000 agents in more than 200 countries.
The filing does not differentiate between investments Berkshire makes, investments any of its more than 60 subsidiaries make, or investments Buffett himself makes.
Berkshire's subsidiaries range from insurance to clothing, furniture, and candy companies, restaurants, natural gas and corporate jet firms. Berkshire also has major investments in such companies as Coca-Cola Co. and Anheuser-Busch Cos.
Berkshire's Class A shares gained $1,800, or 1.3 percent, to close at $137,500 Wednesday before the stock filing was released.
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© 2007 AFX News
