The "Oracle of Omaha" Sold Amazon and Apple Before Retiring... and Bought This Instead

Berkshire's 2025 Q4 Stock Holdings Report
Purchase of 5.07 Million NYT Shares...First Newspaper Investment in Six Years

Berkshire Hathaway, which had been led by Warren Buffett, sold Amazon and Apple shares and bought New York Times (NYT) stock at the end of last year, just before his retirement.

According to Bloomberg News and others on the 17th (local time), Berkshire disclosed in its report on stock holdings for the fourth quarter of 2025, submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that day, that as of the end of last year it had sold 77% of its 10 million Amazon shares and was holding about 2.3 million shares. Berkshire also made public that it had sold 4% of its Apple stake and was holding about 228 million shares.

Associated Press Yonhap News Agency

By contrast, in this round of investments Berkshire purchased 5.07 million shares of New York Times (NYT). This NYT share purchase is Buffett's first investment in the newspaper industry since he sold all 31 newspapers he owned to the U.S. publisher Lee Enterprises in 2020.

Buffett, who worked as a newspaper delivery boy in his teens, has shown a special interest in the industry. In his 2018 shareholder letter, he said that only major newspapers such as the NYT, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), and the Washington Post (WP) have strong digital models capable of offsetting declines in print circulation and advertising revenue, and that these newspapers would survive.

The report did not specify whether this investment decision was made under Buffett's direction. Since Buffett typically manages only investments of 1 billion dollars or more, it is uncertain whether the new NYT investment was made at his discretion.

After Berkshire disclosed that it had purchased NYT shares, NYT's stock price rose 4% in after-hours trading that day, closing at 76.99 dollars.

Earlier, on January 1, Buffett stepped down and handed over the position of Berkshire chief executive officer (CEO) to his successor, Greg Abel.