Warren Buffett dumped 77% of Amazon to buy surging media stock
Share
9 Min Read
SHARE
Warren Buffett has made another notable portfolio move, slashing Berkshire Hathaway’s Amazon stake by more than 77% while also opening a new position in The New York Times. The shift shows Buffett continuing to rotate away from some big tech holdings and into what looks like a more selective mix of media and traditional businesses.
The Amazon sale is the headline move. Berkshire reduced its holdings to roughly 2.3 million shares after first building the position in 2019, a sharp reversal for a company that once viewed Amazon as one of its most interesting large-cap bets.
According to the latest filing, as reported by The Motley Fool, Berkshire trimmed its Amazon position by more than 75% in the quarter, leaving the stake worth only a small fraction of the firm’s overall portfolio. The reduction appears to be part of a broader reshuffling of Berkshire’s equity book rather than a one-off trade.
That matters because Amazon had represented one of Buffett’s more surprising modern-era investments.
He had long said he regretted not buying the stock earlier, so a large reduction suggests the thesis has changed, the valuation has become less attractive, or Berkshire simply prefers other opportunities right now.
It also fits a broader pattern. Berkshire has been trimming other large holdings, too, including Apple and Bank of America, which suggests Buffett has been steadily reducing concentration in some of his biggest positions.
At the same time, Berkshire initiated a new position in The New York Times worth about $351.7 million, or roughly 5.1 million shares. That makes the newspaper company one of the more interesting new additions to Berkshire’s public portfolio.
The move is notable because Buffett once called the newspaper industry “toast,” The Motley Fool noted, after Berkshire exited its newspaper ownership years ago. Buying into The New York Times now suggests he sees something different in the modern digital version of the business.
That is the real story here. Berkshire is not backing the old print model; it is backing a company that has turned itself into a scaled subscription and digital media platform.
The New York Times generated approximately $551 million in free cash flow, the kind of performance that matters to Warren Buffett-style investing.Blue/Getty Images
The numbers tell most of the story. The New York Times ended 2025 with 12.8 million total subscribers after adding 1.4 million net new digital subscribers during the year, according to Yahoo Finance. That puts it on pace to hit its stated goal of 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027.
Digital revenue crossed $2 billion for the first time in 2025. Digital subscription revenue grew roughly 14% for the year, while digital advertising jumped 20%, Proactive reported.
More Warren Buffett:
Adjusted operating profit grew more than 20% to $550 million, and the company generated approximately $551 million in free cash flow.
That kind of performance matters to Buffett-style investing because it shows pricing power and recurring revenue.
A company that can keep growing subscribers and raise prices without destroying demand starts to look less like a fading media business and more like a durable consumer platform.
The Times had 12.8 million total subscribers at year-end 2025, up by 1.4 million net new digital subscribers in the year, according to Proactive.
Total digital revenue surpassed $2 billion for the first time in 2025, GuruFocus reported.
It generated free cash flow of approximately $551 million in 2025, GuruFocus noted.
Adjusted operating profit grew more than 20% to $550 million in 2025, The Times’ Q4 2025 earnings report confirmed.
The company’s trusted brand and original journalism position it as a resilient asset as AI-generated content becomes more widespread, according to The Motley Fool.
Analysts at The Motley Fool also pointed to The Times’ growing video journalism push as another long-term draw.
CFO Will Bardeen said during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call that “video in particular remains an important area of strategic investment,” adding that the company is “confident in our ability to generate strong returns” as it expands that channel, Motley Fool noted.
In that sense, Berkshire’s investment looks less like a bet on journalism itself and more like a bet on a high-quality digital subscription asset with multiple revenue streams and durable cash flow.
Amazon’s stock remains one of the market’s most important long-term growth stories, but it is also a very different kind of asset than The New York Times. It is larger, more complex, and more exposed to competition, logistics pressure, and changing consumer demand.
Berkshire may simply be taking profits after a strong run. Or it may believe that the upside from Amazon is now less compelling than the upside from other names with stronger current cash flow or simpler economics.
Either way, the reduction shows Berkshire is not married to any one high-profile tech trade. Even a stock Buffett once admired enough to buy can be cut aggressively if the opportunity set changes.
Buffett has always been willing to change his mind when the facts change. That seems to be what is happening here: Amazon may still be a great business, but Berkshire appears to think other opportunities offer a better balance of risk, reward, and cash generation right now.
The New York Times purchase is also a reminder that Buffett does not avoid media entirely. He is simply more interested in businesses that have shown they can survive the digital shift and create predictable cash flow.
That is why the trade is being interpreted as a strategic rotation rather than a major thematic pivot. Berkshire is still buying quality, just in a different part of the market.
This move comes as Berkshire has also been active elsewhere, including in Chevron and Chubb, which suggests the firm is continuing to balance its portfolio across sectors rather than chase one theme too hard.
That is classic Buffett behavior: stay opportunistic, stay patient, and keep moving capital toward what looks most compelling on a risk-adjusted basis.
The latest filing also shows how much Berkshire has evolved. It is still a value-investing giant, but its portfolio now includes a mix of old-economy cash generators, select tech exposure, and digital businesses that would have been hard to imagine in earlier decades.
Buffett’s Amazon sale and New York Times purchase show that Berkshire is still willing to make sharp, meaningful changes when it sees a better opportunity. The message is not that Amazon is a bad company; it is that Buffett no longer sees it as the best use of Berkshire’s capital.
At the same time, The Times investment suggests he sees value in businesses that have successfully adapted to the digital era and can still produce reliable cash flow.
That combination makes this filing classic Buffett. Sell where the margin of safety looks thinner, buy where the business model looks durable, and keep the portfolio moving toward quality.
Related: Warren Buffett gets a laugh at market’s expense
