Affiliated Publications, Inc.

Affiliated Publications, Inc. was a media company, most notably the parent company of the Boston Globe, that became a significant common stock holding for Berkshire Hathaway in 1980.

📝 The Investment

Portfolio Concentration: Identified in the 1980 letter as a major holding with a large unrealized gain.
Position (1980): Berkshire held 434,550 shares with a cost of $2.8 million and a market value of $12.2 million.
Strategic Fit: Consistent with Buffett's theme of investing in dominant "franchise" newspapers in major metropolitan markets.

🔗 Connections

Company: The Washington Post Company (Peer)
Source: 1980 Letter

📚 Historical Mentions & Citations (1)

Click a reference document below to expand and read the exact paragraph(s) containing this concept in the archive.

📜

1980 LetterExcerpt Available

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| No. of Shares | Company | Cost | Market | | :--- | :--- | :---: | :---: | | 434,550 | (a) Affiliated Publications, Inc. | $ 2,821 | $ 12,222 | | 464,317 | (a) Aluminum Company of America | 25,577 | 27,685 | | 475,217 | (b) Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company | 12,942 | 15,894 | | 1,983,812 | (b) General Foods, Inc. | 62,507 | 59,889 | | 7,200,000 | (a) GEICO Corporation | 47,138 | 105,300 | | 2,015,000 | (a) Handy & Harman | 21,825 | 58,435 | | 711,180 | (a) Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. | 4,531 | 22,135 | | 1,211,834 | (a) Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. | 20,629 | 27,569 | | 282,500 | (a) Media General | 4,545 | 8,334 | | 247,039 | (b) National Detroit Corporation | 5,930 | 6,299 | | 881,500 | (a) National Student Marketing | 5,128 | 5,895 | | 391,400 | (a) Ogilvy & Mather Int’l. Inc. | 3,709 | 9,981 | | 370,088 | (b) Pinkerton’s, Inc. | 12,144 | 16,489 | | 245,700 | (b) R. J. Reynolds Industries | 8,702 | 11,228 | | 1,250,525 | (b) SAFECO Corporation | 32,062 | 45,177 | | 151,104 | (b) The Times Mirror Company | 4,447 | 6,271 | | 1,868,600 | (a) The Washington Post Company | 10,628 | 42,277 | | 667,124 | (b) E W Woolworth Company | 13,583 | 16,511 | | | | $298,848 | $497,591 | | | All Other Common Stockholdings | 26,313 | 32,096 | | | Total Common Stocks | $325,161 | $529,687 |

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