Warren Buffett's Berkshire reveals Taiwan Semiconductor position, causing shares to jump 10%

Published Mon, Nov 14 20224:32 PM ESTUpdated Tue, Nov 15 20226:28 AM EST

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway built a sizable new stake in Taiwan Semiconductor in the third quarter, according to a quarterly regulatory filing. Berkshire added more than 60 million shares of the Taiwanese chipmaker's American depositary receipts, worth $4.1 billion (1.2% of TSM) by the end of the third quarter, making Taiwan Semi the conglomerate's 10th biggest holding at the end of September. The chip stock jumped more than 10% in premarket trading Tuesday on the news. It's down nearly 40% this year, however, as the semiconductor industry grappled with U.S.-China tensions and the boom-and-bust of demand. Omaha-based Berkshire also took new positions in lumber maker Louisiana-Pacific (worth $297 million) and investment bank Jefferies (worth $12.8 million) in the third quarter, the filing showed. Berkshire increased its holding in Paramount Global to $1.7 billion at the end of the third quarter. The media stock has fallen 39% this year as it suffered from cord cutting and a drop in advertising revenue. As expected, the filing showed that Buffett continued to accumulate Occidental Petroleum in the third quarter. Berkshire's stake in the Houston-based oil-and-gas driller has reached 21.4% of the shares outstanding, worth $11.9 billion at the end of September. In August, Berkshire received regulatory approval to purchase as much as 50%, spurring speculation that it may eventually buy all of Occidental. The "Oracle of Omaha" trimmed his position in Activision Blizzard last quarter, but the bet is still the conglomerate's ninth largest, the filing showed. Buffett previously revealed that he bought the stock in a merger arbitrage play, betting that Microsoft's proposed acquisition of the video game company will close. The deal is now facing antitrust regulators' scrutiny. Apple remained Berkshire's biggest stock holding by far, with a position worth more than $123 billion. The iPhone maker is up more than 7% over the past month, trimming its 2022 loss to about 16%.