巴菲特加大对媒体业的投资规模

    今年第二季度，沃伦•巴菲特统领的伯克希尔-哈撒韦公司（Berkshire Hathaway）退出了对一家有线电视公司的投资，转向了另一家，这两家电视公司都和媒体投资人约翰•马龙有联系。此外，伯克希尔-哈撒韦还增持了Verizon的股份。

    伯克希尔-哈撒韦正将媒体业纳入其投资组合，上述举措就是最新进展。推动这项工作的可能是托德•康布斯和泰德•韦斯切勒——这两位专业投资人士由巴菲特聘用，是其接班人计划的一部分。

    上周四晚间伯克希尔-哈撒韦发布的财务公告显示，第二季度，这家综合保险集团买进的特许通讯（Charter Communications）股票略高于200万股。后者是一家有线电视公司，由马龙旗下的Liberty Media控制。截至6月底，这些股份的价值约为3.65亿美元。今年初，马龙曾想把特许通讯和时代华纳（Time Warner）合并在一起，但以失败告终。2月份，时代华纳选择了康卡斯特（Comcast）作为合并对象。不过，作为二者合并的一部分，康卡斯特向特许通讯转让了390万名客户，以免引起反垄断监管机构的关注（对于时代华纳与康卡斯特能否合并，美国政府尚未表态）。

    同时，伯克希尔-哈撒韦抛售了Starz有线电视网的股份。后者于2013年初从Liberty Media中剥离了出来，拥有质量上乘的电视频道Starz和Encore。伯克希尔-哈撒韦正是从那次剥离中得到了Starz的股份。剥离后，Starz一直表现良好，股价已经翻了一番，只是最近显露出了疲态——2014年以来股价略有下跌。

    此外，伯克希尔-哈撒韦还对电信公司Verizon进行了增持，购入了近400万股。它从今年早些时候开始买进Verizon的股份。虽然其他电信公司最近都在谋求合并，但Verizon已经表示将保持独立。和今年年初相比，Verizon的股价出现了小幅下滑。

    伯克希尔-哈撒韦的股价近期一直很坚挺，上周四首次突破了20万美元大关。部分评论人士认为巴菲特已经失去了投资魔力，但看来市场没有受此影响。

    在过去几年中，巴菲特把康布斯和韦斯切勒推到了台前。他已经表示，如果自己不再执掌伯克希尔-哈撒韦，他希望这两个人能最终负责该公司的投资业务。对于其他业务——包括保险、铁路公司伯灵顿北圣达菲（Burlington NorthernSanta Fe）以及数十家规模较小的企业由谁负责，巴菲特尚未表态。目前，康布斯和韦斯切勒每人掌握着伯克希尔-哈撒韦约70亿美元的投资。两人到来以后，该公司一直在增持多家有线电视公司的股份，其中包括DirecTV。这家曾短暂属于Dish Network的公司最近达成了一份收购协议，美国电话电报公司（AT&T）和Liberty Media将联手对其实施收购。（财富中文网）

    译者：Charlie

    Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway traded one cable investment for another in the second quarter, both with ties to media investor John Malone. And it increased its bet on Verizon.

    The moves are a part of a shift in Berkshire’s investment portfolio toward media plays, likely driven by Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, two investment professionals hired by Buffett as part of his succession plan.

    According to a financial filing that came out on Thursday evening, the insurance conglomerate purchased just over 2 million shares of cable television provider Charter Communications in the second quarter. The stake was worth about $365 million at the end of June. Charter is controlled by Malone’s Liberty Media, and earlier this year Malone lost out on a bid to combine Charter with Time Warner Cable . Instead, Time Warner was snatched up by Comcast in February. As part of the deal, though, Charter picked up 3.9 million customers that Comcast divested in order to allay concerns of anti-trust regulators. (Washington has yet to say if the Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal will go forward.)

    At the same time, Berkshire sold off its stake in Starz . The company, which owns premium cable channels Starz and Encore, was spun off from Liberty Media in early 2013, and Berkshire got shares as part of the spin-off. The stock has done well for Berkshire, doubling since the spin-off, but its shares have languished recently, and are down slightly in 2014.

    Berkshire also added to its stake in Verizon , buying an additional nearly 4 million shares in the telephone and cable company. Berkshire began buying shares in Verizon earlier this year. While other cable and telephone companies have been looking to shack up recently, Verizon has said it will go it alone. Shares of the company have fallen slightly this year.

    Shares of Berkshire have been doing well lately and crossed $200,000 for the first time on Thursday. The market appears to have largely ignored claims by some commentators that Buffett has lost his investing mojo.

    Buffett brought on Combs and Weschler in the past few years, and has said that he expects the two will eventually run the company’s investment portfolio once Buffett is no longer at the helm of Berkshire. Buffett has not said who will run the rest of the company, which includes its insurance businesses, as well as railroad Burlington Northern and dozens of smaller companies. Combs and Weschler now run around $7 billion each of Berkshire’s investment portfolio. Since the two joined the company, Berkshire has added stakes in a number of cable providers included DirecTV , which recently struck a deal to be acquired by AT&T and Liberty Media . It briefly owned Dish as well.