Billionaire investors Warren Buffett, Daniel Loeb and John
Paulson made a connection on Verizon Communications Inc., as their
firms separately picked up stakes in the telecommunications firm
amid a wave of deal-making in the sector.
Mr. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. also trimmed its holdings
in General Motors Co. in the first quarter, securities filings
show. Meanwhile, hedge-fund manager David Einhorn dumped all his
shares in the embattled car maker.
The disclosures were among many big positions revealed on the
quarterly date when investors who manage more than $100 million
must disclose their securities holdings to the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
Berkshire Hathaway had a Verizon stake valued at about $524
million as of the end of March. Given the stake's size, which
represents less than 1% of Verizon's shares, it is likely to be a
purchase made by one of Mr. Buffett's two investment managers.
The Omaha, Neb.-based investor has previously said he typically
picks the big, multibillion-dollar positions for Berkshire, while
his managers, Ted Weschler and Todd Combs, buy smaller stakes.
During the quarter, Berkshire reduced its stake in satellite
television company DirecTV, another investment of the duo, by two
million shares. Berkshire still owns 34.5 million shares of
DirecTV, which were valued at $2.6 billion at the end of the first
quarter.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that AT&T Inc. is in
talks to buy DirecTV for about $50 billion. At that price,
Berkshire stands to make a sizable profit on its holding of the
stock.
Mr. Paulson's new Verizon stake was worth $415.9 million at the
end of the quarter, filings show.
Mr. Loeb's reported stake in Verizon was smaller, at $166
million, but his firm, Third Point LLC, also bought shares in two
cable companies. It increased its stake in Liberty Global PLC and
picked up a small new position in Time Warner Cable Inc. worth
about $52 million. Comcast Corp. in February said it plans to buy
Time Warner Cable for $45 billion.
Berkshire cut its position in GM by 10 million shares, and now
owns 30 million shares valued at about $1 billion. The largest U.S.
auto maker has recalled nearly 12.8 million cars world-wide this
year. That includes recalls to repair cars equipped with a
defective ignition switch that it acknowledged having investigated
for years without taking action.
Mr. Einhorn's Greenlight Capital got out of GM entirely in the
first quarter, selling all 17 million of its shares.
In the firm's first-quarter letter to clients, when Greenlight
earlier revealed its exit, Greenlight wrote, "We expected 2014 to
be an earnings break out, and exited early this year when earnings
guidance revealed it would not be."
Among other new stakes revealed on Thursday, Steven A. Cohen's
firm picked up 11.2 million shares of BlackBerry Ltd., which has
seen its share of the global smartphone market tumble in recent
years.
Mr. Cohen's firm, now called Point72 Asset Management, was
formerly known as SAC Capital Advisors LP. It changed its name in
the wake of the firm pleading guilty to insider trading and now
primarily manages Mr. Cohen's personal wealth.
Another big purchase was from David Tepper's Appaloosa
Management LP, which reported it held 478,500 shares of Facebook
Inc. at the end of the first quarter.
Appaloosa also added a stake to online travel company Expedia,
purchasing 695,837 shares during the quarter, worth $50.5 million
at the quarter's end.
The positions were particularly notable in light of Mr. Tepper's
gloomy comments Wednesday at the annual hedge-fund-focused SALT
conference in Las Vegas. "The market is kind of dangerous right
now...don't be too fricking long right now," he said, referring to
bullish positions. "There's times to make money and there's times
not to lose money."
William Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management LP got out
of its positions in consumer products giant Procter & Gamble
Co. and mall operator General Growth Properties Inc., filings
showed.
At a February dinner, Mr. Ackman told investors he had sold the
remainder of the General Growth stake and that it was Pershing
Square's most profitable investment ever, gaining 256% over the
life of the investment.
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