Buffett’s Berkshire Takes Activision Blizzard Stake, Exits Teva

(Bloomberg) — Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. took a stake in Activision Blizzard Inc., the game giant that has agreed to be acquired by Microsoft Corp., in an investment that would have been valued at $975 million at the end of the year.

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Berkshire held nearly 14.7 million shares in the video-game company as of Dec. 31, according to a regulatory filing released Monday. The conglomerate snapped up the stock ahead of Activision’s $69 billion deal with Microsoft, which was announced mid-January.

It’s unclear whether Buffett or one of his two investment managers, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, made the investment. Buffett, Berkshire’s chief executive officer, has long had ties to Microsoft through his friendship with the tech firm’s co-founder and former CEO, Bill Gates. Activision stock jumped nearly 26% on the day of the deal’s announcement, and has climbed about 23% since the end of 2021.

A Berkshire representative didn’t immediately respond to a message about the Activision stake.

Buffett’s company reshuffled some other stock bets during the last three months of the year. The firm is no longer reporting a stake in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Sirius XM Holdings Inc. after holding shares in those companies as of Sept. 30.

Berkshire ramped up its bet on stocks including Chevron Corp., Floor & Decor Holdings Inc. and RH. The Chevron stake was boosted by about 33%, for a year-end value of $4.49 billion.

Buffett’s company pulled back back on some pharmaceutical stocks, a trend that continued from the third quarter. The AbbVie Inc. holding was down 79% while the Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. stake fell 76%.