Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE:BRK.A) said Monday in a securities filing it bought US$2.6bn worth of Paramount Global class B shares during the first quarter.
As well as acquiring the nearly 69mln shares, the holding company for a multitude of businesses purchased stakes in other companies including almost US$3bn in Citibank. Berkshire invested US$51bn between January and March.
Buffett bought into Paramount following first-quarter 2022 results that indicated subscriber gains in its flagship streaming service Paramount+ and Tubi beat expectations.
Paramount remains majority controlled by Shari Redstone and the Redstone family’s National Amusements.
Paramount, which owns the likes of CBS (NYSE:CBS), Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central, has been focusing on growing investments in programming for the direct-to-consumer business, while also offloading assets to raise cash.
Investors have been wary of the streaming sector of late, highlighted by Netflix’s stock setback after weak quarterly subscriber numbers.
Berkshire is a US$355bn company, which has large stakes in over 60 companies including Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Coca-Cola, American Express Co and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC).