The Week Explained: Insider buy-backs (SCMP)
Directors of listed Hong Kong companies have been increasing the purchases of their own shares after a lull in this kind of activity earlier in the year. Also, rather intriguingly, Berkshire Hathaway has made a US$1.2 billion buy-back of company shares. The purchase defies US investment guru (and Berkshire head) Warren Buffett’s own maxims. Buffett is famous for criticising directors for overpaying for shares in their own companies, which he says is done to pump up the share price. However, earlier in the month Berkshire stepped in to buy 9,200 class A shares at US$131,000 per share, this being Berkshire’s relatively illiquid share class. The firm did so at a slight premium to the closing price on the day before the purchase was made. It was speculated he wanted to prevent the release of these shares on the market, which could have caused a fall in his company’s share price.
Hathaway Effect Again? Wardrobe Malfunction Gives Buffett a Rise (HuffingtonPost)
A couple years ago I suggested that there was a “Hathaway Effect”: When actress Anne Hathaway was in the news, it might increase the share price for Warren Buffett’s BerkshireHathaway company. Turns out that Anne’s recent wardrobe malfunction may have shot the price of Buffett’s company up a whopping 2.4%. For those who didn’t hear, Anne was recently photographed coming out of a limo at the New York premiere of her new film Les Miserables – but she neglected to wear underwear that day.
Abstract artist Nicole Buffett (SFGate)
There was a time when Nicole Buffett couldn’t afford cable TV or health insurance, perhaps not unusual for an abstract artist. It may not even be unusual given the fact that she’s a granddaughter of that famous billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who helped see that his children’s and grandchildren’s educations were paid for, and then told them no further inheritance would be forthcoming – leaving them responsible for their own financial health. Fortunately, Nicole Buffett, 36, who grew up in San Francisco, knew from childhood what she wanted to do with her life, and has been forging her own path to success ever since.
Book value per share? Let us do the math for you (Omaha)
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A)‘s recent purchase of $1.2 billion worth of its own stock is prompting discussion, so perhaps a bit of a math lesson is in order. Berkshire paid $131,000 for each of 9,200 shares to the estate of a deceased longtime shareholder. The Omaha investment company, headed by Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett, said it may buy more of its shares at prices within a limit of 120 percent of its book value per share. What’s that again?
