Month: June 2012

Warren Buffet’s investment company Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A) continues to expand its newspaper division. On Friday, BRK.A, announced that its newspaper division is acquiring the Waco Tribune-Herald.

With the acquisition of Waco Tribune-Herald, Berkshire Hathaway is continuing with its strategy of buying small- and medium-sized newspapers.

Commenting on the acquisition, Terry Kroeger, President of Berkshire Hathaway’s BH Media Group and CEO of Omaha World-Herald Company, said that this is a very strong, growing market with terrific assets including Baylor University and the new research park.

BRK.A is buying the Waco Tribune-Herald from Robinson Media LLC. The newspaper has 124 employees. The transaction is expected to be completed on July 31. BRK.A did not disclose the financial terms of the transaction. The Tribune-Herald has daily circulation of 34,000.

Berkshire Hathaway has acquired a number of newspapers in the last few months. The company is likely to purchase more newspapers, according to Buffett.

BRK.A, which owned the Buffalo News of New York, acquired the Omaha World Herald back in December. Back in May, the investment company announced that it would acquire 63 newspapers from Media General Inc. (NYSE: MEG) for $142million. The company also bought the Bryan-College Station Eagle newspaper this month. It also disclosed a 3.2% stake in Lee Enterprise Inc. (NYSE: LEE), a newspaper publisher.

Berkshire Hathaway also has a 23% stake in the Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO), making it the company’s largest shareholder.

Although newspapers have been struggling in the last few years due to declining advertising revenue, Buffett has defended their viability. The billionaire investor believes that newspapers have a decent future if they continue to deliver information that cannot be found elsewhere. In a statement last month, Buffett said that in towns and cities where there is a strong sense of community, there is no more important institution than the local paper.