Warren Buffett paid nearly $100 million to buy more of these tracking stocks

MW Warren Buffett paid nearly $100 million to buy more of these tracking stocks

By Tomi Kilgore

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway owns just under one-third of Liberty SiriusXM shares outstanding

Shares that track Liberty Sirius XM's stock bounced Tuesday, after Warren Buffett's investment vehicle Berkshire Hathaway Inc. disclosed that it boosted its stake by nearly $100 million.

Buffett has now spent roughly $465.4 million to bulk up his stake Liberty Sirius XM Series C $(LSXMK)$ and Series A $(LSXMA)$ shares. He now owns about 30% of Liberty SiriusXM's outstanding shares.

The Series C shares rose 1.3% in premarket trading and the Series A shares gained 0.9%. Both stocks closed at four-month lows on Monday, after falling 10% so far in April.

The stocks track the shares of the subscription-based satellite-radio service Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (SIRI), as Liberty SiriusXM's business is that it owns a controlling stake in Sirius XM. The tracking stocks are seen as being valued at a discount to SiriusXM.

Meanwhile, Sirius XM's stock closed Monday at an eight-year low, and has dropped 12.9% in April.

In Form 4 filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, Berkshire Hathaway $(BRK.B)$ $(BRK.A)$ said it spent $30.69 million to buy 1.12 million Liberty SiriusXM Series A shares, at a weighted average price of $27.3325.

The company also paid $66.42 million to buy 2.42 million Series C shares, at a price of roughly $27.405.

In total, he spent $97.11 million.

Berkshire now owns 33.88 million Series A shares and 67.91 million Series C shares.

The Series A shares have voting rights, while the Series C shares don't. There are also Series B shares, that have 10 votes per share.

Year to date, the Series A shares have shed 7.2% through Monday and the Series C shares have lost 7.4%. In comparison, Sirius XM's stock has tumbled 38.2% this year, Berkshire's Class B shares have rallied 16.6% and the S&P 500 index SPX has advanced 9.1%.

-Tomi Kilgore

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April 09, 2024 07:59 ET (11:59 GMT)

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