Warren Buffett's Berkshire triples stake in newspaper giant

Warren Buffett's Berkshire triples stake in newspaper giant Aditya Raghunath Sat, June 6, 2026 at 9:37 PM GMT+7 5 min read BRK-B GOOG META For decades, owning a newspaper looked like a losing bet. Print circulation fell, ad dollars fled to Google and Meta, and plenty of local titles folded for good. So when one of the most respected names in investing keeps pouring money into the sector, it's worth paying attention. That's exactly what's happening at Berkshire Hathaway. And the size of the move has caught the market's eye. To understand why this matters, you have to look at how much the business has changed. The New York Times isn't really a "newspaper" company anymore. It's a digital subscription machine. The company crossed 13 million paid subscribers this past quarter, CEO Meredith Kopit Levien said at the J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference on May 19, 2026. That puts it within striking distance of its 15 million target set for the end of 2027. "We've got 50 million to 100 million people who are coming to our sites and apps every week, much more than the 13 million and change subscribers," Kopit Levien said. "We've got a huge trove of podcasts and e-mails that people watch, listen to, read on a daily basis. And we've got over 150 million registered users and counting." And the growth goes well beyond headlines. The company now leans on games, cooking, sports, and product reviews to keep people hooked. Tens of millions of players fire up Wordle, Connections, and the rest of the games lineup. The Athletic runs what Kopit Levien called the largest sports journalism operation in the world. The plan ties it all together and gives readers enough reasons to open the app, and come back day after day. Valued at a market cap of $12.2 billion, NYT stock has returned close to 600% to shareholders over the past decade, after adjusting for dividends. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)(BRK.B) tripled its position in the New York Times to 15.1 million shares, according to a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission reported by CNBC. That stake is now worth more than $1.1 billion, which means Berkshire owns roughly 9.4% of the media mogul. The increase came during Greg Abel's first three months as Berkshire's CEO. Abel took the top job in January, ending Warren Buffett's six decades running the company. Cathie Wood buys $2.5 million of tumbling megacap stock Warren Buffett dumped 77% of Amazon to buy surging media stock Cathie Wood buys $11 million of tumbling megacap tech stock But don't assume the legendary investor is out of the picture. Buffett, 95, first invested in NYT in Q4 of 2025, where Berkshire bought an initial 5.1 million shares worth $352 million. Given the size of the latest increase, CNBC reported the move was almost certainly an Abel decision that Buffett either endorsed or possibly even suggested himself. So this looks like a shared bet between the old guard and the new one. For longtime Buffett watchers, this is a real change in tone. Buffett was a decades-long investor in The Washington Post until Jeff Bezos bought the paper in 2013, The Telegraph reported. He also owned a string of local newspapers. Then he soured on the business. He sold off those local titles in 2020, having said many of them were "toast," The Telegraph noted. That word stuck with investors. It signaled Buffett thought the printed page was a dead end. The answer is the same one Kopit Levien has been pitching to Wall Street. The winners in media aren't selling paper anymore. They're selling habits. Related: Warren Buffett earns a 20% dividend yield-on-cost with Coca-Cola stock People pay for the crossword. They pay for the recipe. They pay for in-depth sports coverage of the team they love. Then they keep paying, year after year. That's the kind of durable, recurring revenue Buffett has always loved in businesses like Coca-Cola and Apple. It also fits a broader theme. Big national titles have enjoyed a renaissance as readers shifted to digital subscriptions, The Telegraph indicated. The strong survive while weaker outlets fade. The New York Times wasn't Buffett's only move, either. Berkshire also added new stakes in Delta Air Lines and Macy's, and more than tripled its Alphabet position. Analysts tracking NYT stock forecast revenue to increase from $2.82 billion in 2025 to $2.5 billion in 2028. In this period, adjusted earnings are projected to grow from $2.46 per share to $3.55 per share. If NYT stock is priced at 25x forward earnings, which is below the five-year average of 30x, it could surge 25%, within the next 18 months. Out of the nine analysts covering NYT stock, five recommend “buy” and four recommend “hold”. The average NYT stock price target is $85, indicating an upside potential of 13% from current levels. Berkshire is signaling that quality media, built on subscriptions rather than ads, can be a real long-term holding again. For everyday invest

Warren Buffett's Berkshire triples stake in newspaper giant

Key takeaways

More in business