Warren Buffett sold his newspaper holdings to Lee Enterprises for $140 million in 2020. But printer’s ink must have rubbed off on people, for his firm Berkshire Hathaway this week bought five
million shares of "New York Times" stock for $352 million.
Does this mean Berkshire is departing from the course set by its former chief, who stepped down at the start of this year?
Not quite.
Buffett reportedly once said that that only a few newspapers like the Times and The Wall Street Journal. had the digital resources to make it in
this era of declining print revenues.
There is no question the Times is thriving, thanks to the two D’s: digital and diversification. The Times had 14 million
digital-only subscribers at the end of 2025. And its revenue had jumped by 9% to $2.8 billion, Reuters reports.
“It’s a full circle moment for Berkshire Hathaway in
reinvesting in news and a huge vote of confidence by Berkshire in the business strategy of The New York Times,” Tim Franklin, a professor and chair of local news at Northwestern
University’s Medill School of Journalism, told Associated Press.
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Included as part of this success are The Athletic and games like Wordle. Other big-city dailies
should follow the Times model to the extent they can.
It’s not clear if this was one of Buffett’s last decisions at the company. Market pundits are sifting
for clues as to his intent in Berkshire Hathaway’s entire SEC filing.
Surely, there is enough bad news about the newspaper business. But here is one positive note. And
it follows the bidding war for The Dallas Morning News, in which Hearst prevailed over Alden Global Capital last year.
Don’t count newspapers out yet.