FILE PHOTO: SAG-AFTRA members walk the picket line outside Paramount Studios, in Los Angeles, California
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Warren Buffett said on Saturday that Berkshire Hathaway sold its entire holding in media and entertainment company Paramount Global at a loss and he took sole responsibility for the decision.
“It was 100% my decision, and we’ve sold it all, and we lost quite a bit of money,” Buffett said at Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska.
Berkshire held 63.3 million Paramount Class B shares at the end of 2023 or about 10.1% of the company.
Paramount, like other studios, has been struggling to recover from strikes by Hollywood writers and actors last year, a soft advertising market and falling U.S. cable subscriptions that have eroded its TV profits.
A special committee of the Paramount board, created to evaluate offers for the company, has been holding exclusive deal talks with Skydance Media. But Paramount will end those negotiations without a deal, a person familiar with the discussions told Reuters on Friday, allowing it to evaluate a rival bid.
The media giant declined to comment on Berkshire’s stock sale.
(Reporting by Davide Barbuscia; Editing by Josie Kao and Cynthia Osterman)
