Warren Buffett says he sold all of his shares in Paramount Global at a significant loss.
Speaking today at his company Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, the billionaire investor took full responsibility for the poor decision. Despite speculation to the contrary, he said, “It was 100% my decision” to invest in Paramount in 2022. “We sold everything and lost quite a bit of money. That’s what happens in this business.” (Watch a clip of him above.)
At the end of 2023, Berkshire owned 63.3 million Class B shares, or non-voting shares, which were worth about $800 million at the time. The stake, which represented about 10.1% of the company’s equity, helped boost the stock when Buffett first invested in 2022. He then spoke out publicly, criticizing the companies pursuing Netflix in subscription streaming, which includes Paramount, given the economic situation of the emerging sector.
Buffett, known as the Oracle of Omaha, has made many missteps over his decades of investing. Owning Paramount stock, Buffett mused, “made me think even further, even harder, about the whole question of what people do with their free time and what principles apply to running an entertainment business of any kind.” He added dryly, “I think I’m smarter than I was a year or two ago. But I also think I’m poorer for acquiring the knowledge the way I did.
Paramount’s Class B shareholders were recently outraged by the company’s merger negotiations with Skydance Media, fearing dilution. Shari Redstone controls nearly 80% of the company’s voting, or Class A, shares and had favored a two-tier, all-stock deal with Skydance. An exclusive negotiating window between the companies expired at midnight on Friday and a special committee of the board met today to consider an alternative, all-cash merger proposal from Sony Pictures Entertainment and private equity giant Apollo. This deal has a preliminary price tag of $26 billion and would likely result in all shareholders paying a premium.
Wall Street has agreed in principle to the Sony/Apollo deal, but Redstone was somewhat hesitant to accept it because it would likely involve the company’s breakup and the merger of Paramount’s film studio with Sony’s. Redstone’s father, Sumner Redstone, viewed Paramount Pictures, which he acquired after a bitter battle with Barry Diller, as the centerpiece of his media empire.