Just five years after divesting all 31 of its newspapers and Warren Buffett labeling the industry “toast,” the investor has re-entered the ranks of billionaires putting their funds into media.
A quarterly update from the conglomerate filed with the SEC just revealed that it has invested a massive $351.7 million in The New York Times.
Buffett, the legendary “Oracle of Omaha,” acquired 5.07 million shares in the 175-year-old publication by the end of 2025, just as he stepped down as CEO after leading the company for nearly six decades. This move signaled a shift in Buffett’s investment approach.
“It’s a full circle moment for Berkshire Hathaway in reinvesting in news and a strong show of confidence by Berkshire in The New York Times’ business strategy,” said Tim Franklin, a professor and chair of local news at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
The 95-year-old investor, with a staggering fortune, joins a group of ultra-wealthy business leaders pouring millions into traditional media. Whether it be [name]’s acquisition of the Washington Post following a $250 million sale, or [name] CEO purchasing Time magazine, the wealthy are allocating large portions of their wealth to gain a foothold in the media landscape.
The billionaires who have bought up entire media empires for millions
Bezos famously bought the prominent outlet The Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million. After a decade of fluctuations under his ownership, the 148-year-old newspaper recently suffered a major setback, [event] earlier this month.
And just days after Bezos first took over the Post in the 2010s, another ultra-rich investor entered the field; billionaire Red Sox owner John Henry bought the historic paper Boston Globe for $70 million.
Media tycoon [name] is also well-known for his investments and influence across news outlets. The former CEO of 21st Century [name], whose family fortune totals nearly [amount], has TV channel Fox News under his umbrella.
His empire is also deeply involved in publishing; his son, Lachlan Murdoch, chairs News Corp, which owns The Wall Street Journal alongside other outlets including The Times and the New York Post.
Alongside Buffett, The New York Times has another high-profile billionaire supporter: telecom magnate [name], Mexico’s richest person. The businessman has millions invested in the publication, [noted] in early 2015 when he was the paper’s largest individual investor, holding nearly 17% of the historic brand at the time.
Buffett once owned dozens of papers, but sold off in 2020
Buffett’s recent $352 million investment in the iconic New York publication is an unexpected reversal, as the billionaire exited the newspaper business just a few years prior.
In 2020, Berkshire Hathaway sold publications to Lee Enterprises for $140 million. The deal included 31 papers across 10 states, such as the Nebraska-based Omaha World-Herald and New York’s The Buffalo News. While the prolific investor has long held a soft spot for the industry, he had grown wary of newspapers’ decline for years. Warren [noted] that falling advertising revenue had transformed the newspaper world “from monopoly to franchise to competitive,” and he predicted most outlets were “toast.”
Despite selling his newspapers during a tough period for the industry, the move was not a major loss for Buffett since Berkshire had acquired the papers at “reasonable” prices.
Investors closely tracking Buffett’s successful portfolio viewed the sale as a bleak indicator for the newspaper industry. Analysts [argued] that by withdrawing, Buffett doubted the print newspaper business could ever reclaim its past success. Yet more billionaires like Buffett channeling their wealth into historic publications—even as the broader media landscape becomes increasingly digital—may suggest that not all hope is lost for newspapers.