As it always does following each quarter, Berkshire Hathaway recently disclosed the stocks it held in its massive equities portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025. This is a particularly special filing for followers of Berkshire because it will ultimately be the last quarter that Warren Buffett was CEO of the company he led for over six decades and built into one of the greatest wealth-generating machines in history.
While Buffett will remain chairman of the board of directors, the 95-year-old's involvement in the company will likely be more limited from here, meaning last quarter could be one of the final glimpses investors will get into how the Oracle of Omaha views the market and what stocks he might have had a say in buying and selling.
In Q4, Berkshire dumped 77% of its Amazon (AMZN 1.31%) stake and opened a new position in a stock that has become a digital media juggernaut.
Image source: Motley Fool.
Amazon was never a high conviction play
Buffett and Berkshire first bought Amazon in 2019 and held the stock for many years. But it never seemed like Berkshire really liked Amazon all that much, constantly keeping the position below 1% of the total portfolio. Instead, Berkshire made much larger bets on Apple and Alphabet.
It's never quite clear why Buffett and the team at Berkshire buy and sell stocks, as they are among the greatest investors in the world and therefore possess a unique perspective. Amazon has always had two great businesses. The first is Amazon's incredible e-commerce platform, backed by one of the world's most advanced logistics networks, where consumers can buy just about anything and have it shipped to their homes within a day or two.
Amazon's other great business is Amazon Web Services (AWS), its cloud business that runs its own data centers, enabling businesses to store their data and run applications in the cloud without building their own infrastructure.
NASDAQ: AMZN
Key Data Points
There are two issues that Amazon has been dealing with over the past year. The first concerns President Donald Trump's tariffs, which affect the e-commerce business because many of Amazon's products are made in China, and many of its third-party sellers are abroad as well. The second is that many investors perceive AWS as lagging in its artificial intelligence (AI) strategy compared to some other hyperscalers.
However, Amazon is likely to be able to navigate the tariffs, and there could, at some point, be more clarity and even reprieve on some, as Trump's term proceeds. Amazon is also investing heavily in AI capital expenditures (capex), guiding for $200 billion of capex this year, much of which will be for AI-related data centers. Amazon is also expected to benefit immensely from the integration of robotics into its warehouses, which will help with cost control.
Now trading at 26 times forward earnings, this could be a buying opportunity for the stock, although investors shouldn't just buy stocks because they trade at lower valuations. Amazon will need to prove to the market that the $200 billion it is planning for capex will translate into higher revenue and stronger returns for shareholders.
The king of news
Berkshire's sole new position in the quarter was a roughly $350 million bet on The New York Times (NYT +0.28%). Berkshire has long dabbled in the media and newspaper business. The company held a long-standing position at The Washington Post until 2014 and, until 2020, owned over 30 daily newspapers, before selling them.
The New York Times' stock is up over 51% in the past year and seems to have caught Berkshire's attention. The company has executed successfully over the past 15 years or so. At the end of 2012, the company had close to $700 million in debt, exceeding its equity. Today, The New York Times is debt free and returning capital to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends.
The company has successfully pulled off a digital transformation, including the introduction of podcasts and games, as well as the purchase of other growing media outlets such as The Athletic, a popular sports media site. In its most recent quarter, The New York Times added 450,000 net digital-only subscribers, bringing total subscribers to nearly 12.8 million.
NYSE: NYT
Key Data Points
The New York Times seems to be pulling further ahead in the news business, with most other news outlets having to cut reporters and certain coverage areas. For instance, The Washington Post just conducted significant layoffs, including in its foreign coverage. There's competition to be sure from new and emerging media companies, and The New York Times' stock is not cheap, trading at close to 28 times forward earnings.
But Buffett was always a fan of moats, and The New York Times now seems to have a clear one in the world of reporting and news, with a strong digital strategy to continue into the modern era.
