Warren Buffett to buy the Omaha World Herald

[knapplc]

It will be interesting to see if the Weird Harold takes on a different tone with new ownership.

Buffett to buy The World-Herald


The Berkshire Hathaway company has agreed to purchase The Omaha World-Herald Co. from its employee shareholders and the Peter Kiewit Foundation.

The transaction is expected to close in late December, pending approval of The World-Herald's shareholders, made up of active employees, retired employees and the Peter Kiewit Foundation. The purchase also is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire, said “The World-Herald delivers solid profits and is one of the best-run newspapers in America, and we are pleased to have Terry Kroeger and his team join Berkshire Hathaway.”

Kroeger, publisher, president and CEO of The World-Herald, said “Buffett's offer to purchase our company presented a unique opportunity to address our long-term capital needs and continue local ownership of The Omaha World-Herald, which is consistent with the legacy left to us by Mr. Kiewit.”

“As part of the Berkshire family of companies, we will be better positioned to capitalize on our strengths and pursue opportunities as the newspaper industry continues to evolve,” Kroeger added.

Buffett said “the editorial independence that Nebraskans and Iowans have come to expect from The World-Herald will continue.”

 

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

Has a little bit of the vibe "so and so owns this town". I actually wish he had taken this approach and bought the Omaha Royals years back instead of just being a minority owner in the team.

 

[da skers]

Sounds like Warren doesn't really put pressure on his newspapers to print his views. Of course....he doesn't need them to when everyone already wants to kiss his a$$.

I won't talk publicly about how their employee stock program works but I know the workings having several friends in management positions. But it had become pretty screwed up over the years on who was offered stock and even further twisted after JG retired and they changed how you could even sell your stock. I was shocked when it came out that they change bylaws to prohibit employees from selling their stock at certain times. If the stars had aligned just right this could have very easily have been a private Enron. Thank God it didn't but the shareholders should be very very happy their stock was bought while it had value and the company was still on somewhat solid ground. It was standing on the edge of the cliff an could have easily fallen off.