Por Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Activision Blizzard shares rose on Monday after Warren Buffett said his company Berkshire Hathaway took a 9.5% stake in the video game maker, which Microsoft bought for $68.7 billion.
Buffett revealed the investment of about $5.6 billion in Activision on Saturday at Berkshire’s annual meeting. He said he could increase the stake to above 10%.
Activision shares rose 2.8% to $77.73 this afternoon. That’s still far below the $95 a share Microsoft offered on Jan. 18.
One of Buffett’s portfolio managers had assembled a $1.1 billion stake in Activision by the end of 2021. Microsoft and Activision did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Buffett said he rarely makes these investments, a form of arbitrage, because they have to be big to make sense for his $712 billion company.
“Even though he spent $51 billion on stocks, it’s a good way to deploy additional capital,” said Paul Lountzis, president of Lountzis Asset Management.
