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Warren Buffett says his company bought $10.7 billion of IBM stock this year, about a 5.6% stake.
(Reuters) - Warren Buffett said his Berkshire Hathaway Inc has accumulated a 5.5 percent stake in IBM, the billionaire investor's biggest bet in the technology field he has historically shunned.
Buffett said he was convinced by IBM's long-term roadmap and by its entrenched position with major businesses -- part of the durable competitive advantage that he looks for when investing in a company.
"I don't know of any large company that really has been as specific on what they intend to do and how they intend to do it as IBM," Buffett told CNBC in an interview.
The move also puts Buffett's money squarely in the heart of the technology industry, a sector he has steadfastly avoided on the grounds he simply did not understand it.
Buffett said, in a CNBC interview on Monday, he had bought about 64 million shares of IBM at a cost of $10.7 billion. Berkshire started buying the shares in March, with a goal of building a $10 billion position, he said.
Buffett said IBM did not know that he was building a stake and that the company was finding out about his investment for the first time as he disclosed it on television. |
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