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Investopedia
Berkshire Filing Reveals Insurer Chubb As Buffett's Mystery Stock
~2.7 mins read

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) has revealed that insurer Chubb (CB) is the mystery stock that the conglomerate had started building a position in last year but had asked regulators to keep under wraps.

In its quarterly 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission released late Wednesday, Berkshire said that it ended the first quarter with nearly 26 million shares of Chubb valued at about $6.72 billion.

It's unclear why Berkshire had omitted Chubb from its filings for the third and fourth quarters, when it said that it had requested confidential treatment from the SEC for one of its holdings.

The news that Chubb had become part of the Oracle of Omaha's portfolio sent shares of the company sharply higher in after-hours trading Wednesday. Chubb shares were up 8% at around 8:00 p.m. ET.

Insurance is a core business for Berkshire, which owns companies such as GEICO, General Re as well as a number of Berkshire-branded insurance businesses that provide coverage across the spectrum—from auto, to business and home insurance. One illustration of the importance of insurance to Berkshire: Ajit Jain, head of the company's insurance business, was one of only two executives seated at the table with Buffett during Berkshire's annual shareholders meeting.

Berkshire confirmed in the 13F that it sold a large portion of its stake in Apple Inc. (AAPL) and most of its stake in Paramount Global (PARA) in the first quarter. Berkshire had previously disclosed the amount of the cut in its Apple stake, and Buffett had discussed the changes in both holdings at the annual shareholders meeting on May 4.

In the case of Apple, Berkshire cut its stake to around 790 million shares at the end of the first quarter, from 905 million at the end of the fourth quarter. While the cut was significantly more than the 10 million-share reduction in the fourth quarter, Buffett told shareholders that his views on Apple as an investment hadn't changed and that company would continue to be Berkshire's largest holding.

Berkshire sold almost 56 million shares of Paramount, leaving it with about 7.5 million shares as of the end of the first quarter. Some investors had interpreted remarks Buffett made at the shareholders meeting to suggest that the company had exited its Paramount position entirely.

Buffett, known for his buy-and-hold approach to investing, only rarely changes his existing positions in companies.

Among the positions that increased in the first quarter, Berkshire added nearly 22 million shares of Liberty Media's Series C SiriusXM shares and 12.5 millions shares of Liberty Media's Series A SiriusXM shares, for a total of 35 million additional tracking shares of Sirius XM (SIRI). Sirius XM and Liberty Media announced last December that they will convert the tracking shares to SIRI shares, with the conversion expected to complete June 30, 2024.

The only other prior stake that Berkshire increased in the first quarter was Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY). Berkshire added about 4.3 million shares in that period, bringing its end-of-quarter total to just over 248 million shares.

Berkshire closed out just a single name in its portfolio in the first quarter: the firm sold off all of its nearly 23 million shares of HP. At the end of the fourth quarter, that stake was worth about $688 million.

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Instablog9ja
“Don’t Sleep,” Mohbad’s Widow Tells Him After Pathologist Revealed The Cause Of His D£@th Could Not Be Ascertained 🎥: @alaroyeonlinetv
~0.4 mins read

Late Nigerian singer Oladimeji Ilerioluwa Aloba aka Mohbad’s widow, Wunmi, has caused a stir on social media following the disclosure of his autopsy result.

Recall that during a coroner inquest which took place on May 16, 2024, a pathologist gave an update on the late singer’s autopsy and revealed that the cause of his death could not be determined.

Shortly after that, Wunmi took to her Instagram stories to share a photo of her late husband with a simple caption

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Investopedia
Gold Price On May 15: Rate Rises As Consumer Inflation Cools
~1.2 mins read

The spot price of gold was up 1.3% to $2,387.97 per ounce as of 4:30 p.m. ET Wednesday, after a report showed consumer inflation slowed in April, lifting hopes the Federal Reserve may cut interest rates, which would be bullish for gold.

The Labor Department reported April's Consumer Price Index (CPI) was up 0.3% from the month before, down from the 0.4% gains in both February and March. The year-over-year increase of 3.4% eased from 3.5% in March.

The core rate of inflation, which leaves out volatile food and energy prices, came in at an annual rise of 3.6%, the lowest since April 2021.

A report from the Commerce Department on Wednesday showed retail sales were virtually unchanged in April from the month before, suggesting consumers may be pulling back. Economists had been anticipating a gain of 0.4% after a 0.6% jump in March. Excluding autos and gas, sales declined 0.1% versus the predicted 0.1% advance.

Sales at non-store retailers, which include online purchases, posted the biggest drop of any category at 1.2% versus March.

The economic news led to a shift in expectations of the probability of policymakers reducing interest rates in September, according to the CME's FedWatch Tool based on fed funds futures pricing data. Markets are now pricing in a 75% chance of a rate cut in September, an increase of 10 percentage points from Tuesday.

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Instablog9ja
Bookworm Reveals How Her Man Went Over And Beyond To Propose To Her 📹: X:TostosofCanada
~0.5 mins read

A Nigerian lady who loves to read has shared the heartwarming story of how her man proposed to her with a 42-page book. In a post shared on X, the Nigerian lady @totosofcanada mentioned that her man took her to a book-themed restaurant where he proposed. In the book, her fiance wrote about why he loves her and can’t wait to marry her.

At the last page of the book, the man had the ring imputed.

Her post has warmed the hearts of some Nigerians who celebrated her man for being intentional about the way he proposes to his woman.

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Investopedia
Klarman's Baupost Group Buys Stake In SoundHound, Cuts Position In Warner Bros Discovery
~1.7 mins read

Billionaire Seth Klarman's Baupost Group hedge fund entered a position in artificial intelligence (AI)-powered voice and speech recognition company SoundHound AI (SOUN) in the first quarter while sharply trimming its stake in Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), according to its recent 13-F filing.

It is important to note that 13F filings report on investments as of the end of the reporting quarter, and provide no information about what price at which shares were purchased or any profit or loss from any share-ownership exits.

Klarman's fund ended the first quarter with 1.1 million shares of SoundHound, which provides AI voice solutions and recently reported better-than-expected quarterly results amid rising demand for its products. SoundHound came into the spotlight after Nvidia (NVDA) unveiled a position in the company at the end of last year.

Baupost took on several other new positions in the first three months of this year as well, most notably a 2.6 million-share stake in Chinese data center company GDS Holdings (GDS).

Klarman also entered stakes in construction materials firm Eagle Materials (EXP), contract research organization Fortrea Holdings (FTRE), and electrical distribution and services parent company Wesco International (WCC).

Baupost added to its existing stake in data analytics firm Clarivate (CLVT), ending the quarter with 30.6 million shares, about 5 million more than it had at the end of 2023.

Klarman's fund dramatically reduced its position in media giant Warner Bros Discovery across the first three months of 2024. The firm ended the quarter with 3.7 million shares, down from 25.2 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023.

Baupost made smaller cuts to its prior stakes in building materials company CRH (CRH), Fidelity National Information Services (FIS), and Theravance Biopharma (TBPH), among others.

The most recent 13-F also revealed several companies that Baupost eliminated from its portfolio entirely in the first quarter. These include Israeli chipmaker Tower Semiconductor (TSEM), engineering outfit Garrett Motion (GTX), and broadcasting firm Gray Television (GTN).

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Instablog9ja
Nigerians ‘hail’ A Police Officer As He Bows Out Of Service In Style
~0.4 mins read

The netizen, whose username is @W_M_T_V_ on the microblogging platform, had sparked interesting reactions after his remarks got many Nigerians talking.

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