NEW YORK (Reuters) – Warren Buffett said on Saturday Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:) had sold its entire stake in media and entertainment company Paramount Global at a loss and he took sole responsibility for the decision.
“It was 100 percent my decision, and we sold it all and lost a lot of money,” Buffett said at Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska.
At the end of 2023, Berkshire owned 63.3 million Paramount Class B shares, or about 10.1% of the company.
Paramount, like other studios, is struggling to recover from last year’s Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes, a weak advertising market and falling U.S. cable subscriptions that have dented its TV revenue.
A special committee of Paramount’s board of directors, created to evaluate the company’s proposals, is negotiating an exclusive deal with Skydance Media. But Paramount will end those talks without a deal, a person familiar with the discussions told Reuters on Friday, allowing the company to evaluate its rival’s offer.
The media giant declined to comment on the sale of Berkshire shares.