Berkshire Hathaway Buys Business Wire
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway agreed to buy Business Wire, a privately held company that distributes corporate press releases and regulatory filings electronically, for an undisclosed amount.
For Berkshire and Mr. Buffett – both known for using fax machines and the U.S. Postal Service to disseminate information – the deal brings them into the modern information age and adds another subsidiary to Berkshire’s media holdings. It also signals to investors that Mr. Buffett, 75 years old, is still on the lookout to spend more of the $40-plus billion cash that Berkshire has on what look like good investments.
A front-page article about Mr. Buffett in the Saturday, November 12 edition of the Wall Street Journal led to the deal. The president of Business Wire, Cathy Baron Tamraz, says her husband urged her to read the story and then to contact Mr. Buffett “because our business interests are so well aligned.”
The following Monday, she wrote a one-and-a-half page letter to Mr. Buffett, and he called her at her office a week later. After a couple more phone calls, they agreed on a deal.
