Knight-Ridder Newspapers, Inc.

Knight-Ridder Newspapers, Inc. (Knight-Ridder) was a major American media company specializing in newspapers that was a significant common stock holding for Berkshire Hathaway in the late 1970s.

📝 The Investment

Portfolio Concentration: Listed in the 1978 letter as a major holding with a position size over $10 million.
Position (1978): Berkshire held 453,800 shares with a cost of $7.5 million and a market value of $10.3 million.
Investment Thesis: Like his investments in The Washington Post Company and the Buffalo Evening News, Buffett was attracted to the powerful economics of dominant local newspapers, which at the time functioned as virtual local monopolies for advertising.

🔗 Connections

Company: The Washington Post Company (Peer)
Source: 1978 Letter, 1979 Letter

📚 Historical Mentions & Citations (1)

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

📜

1978 LetterExcerpt Available

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| No. of Shares | Company | Cost | Market | | :--- | :--- | :---: | :---: | | 246,450 | American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. | $ 6,082 | $ 8,626 | | 1,294,308 | Government Employees Insurance Company Common Stock | 4,116 | 9,060 | | 1,986,953 | Government Employees Insurance Company Convertible Preferred | 19,417 | 28,314 | | 592,650 | Interpublic Group of Companies | 4,531 | 19,039 | | 1,066,934 | Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation | 18,085 | 18,671 | | 453,800 | Knight-Ridder Newspapers, Inc. | 7,534 | 10,267 | | 953,750 | SAFECO Corporation | 23,867 | 26,467 | | 934,300 | The Washington Post Company | 10,628 | 43,445 | | | Total | $ 94,260 | $163,889 | | | All other Holdings | 39,506 | 57,040 | | | Total Equities | $133,766 | $220,929 |

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