Buffett's Secret Stock from Q1 Filing Revealed

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Jun 06, 2012
The secret is out.


Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)(BRK.B) held over 1.6 million shares of Lee Enterprises (LEE, Financial), about 3.2 percent of its outstanding shares, as of March 31, according to a filing with SEC late today. On that date the stake was worth $2.1 million. The total market value of the company is around $60 million.


The Lee stake is tiny by Berkshire standards, but it's particularly interesting because Buffett's company had wanted to keep it secret.


In its May 15 filing listing its U.S. stock portfolio as of the end of the first quarter, Berkshire had said some information was being kept confidential. Usually, the SEC grants Berkshire's requests for secrecy, but this time it didn't. Tonight's filing says the request for "confidential treatment" was denied on May 25.


It's a continuation of Buffett's local newspaper play. Lee owns 49 daily newspapers and 300 weekly newspapers. Most of them are in mid-size markets, but it also publishes the St Louis Post Dispatch.


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Click here for an article written by Jae Jun, a GuruFocus contributor, describing Lee Enterprises business and valuation.