Here's what Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway just did: (1) He spouts B.S. all day long about raising taxes on the wealthy when he was one of the biggest beneficiaries of US Govt bailouts (how about we give taxpayers their money back instead of allowing him to hugely profit from bailouts that I'm willing to bet he knew would occur beforehand?); (2) for decades he spouts B.S. about the evils of stock buybacks then begins to buyback Berkshire shares in late 2011; (3) instead of buying the shares on the open market, he goes to a longtime shareholder who I presume is trying to avoid tax increases that may happen in less than a month and makes a deal but not before, (4) changing Berkshire's policy on stock buybacks (the original policy prevented this buyback given Berkshire's share price) in order to make the deal happen.
Dec 12 (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's $1.2 billion share buyback from a single unnamed investor likely helped that person's estate save substantially on taxes, just one day after the Berkshire Hathaway CEO said the rich should actually be paying more, not less, when they die.
Berkshire also said Wednesday it raised the threshold for future share buybacks to 120 percent of book value from 110 percent, the level it chose when it first approved a repurchase program in September 2011. The higher level allowed Berkshire to complete this latest buyback, which was above the old threshold.
Dec 12 (Forbes) - With several firms scrambling to return money to shareholders ahead of the fiscal cliff, it was Warren Buffett who surprised many on Wednesday, as Berkshire bought back $1.2 billion in Berkshire stock from a single shareholder.
The company noted it bought 9,200 Class A shares at $131,000 each “from the estate of a long-time shareholder.”
Interestingly, Buffett had been historically opposed to repurchases, shunning them for four decades, according to Bloomberg, but the Oracle changed his mind in 2011.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/12/berkshire-buyback-idUSL1E8NCITK20121212
Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2012/12/12/warren-buffetts-berkshire-buys-back-1-2b-in-stock-from-single-sharheolder/
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