In a conversation published today focusing on why he likes Wells Fargo, Warren Buffett told Fortune's Adam Lashinsky: "We own stock in four banks: USB, Wells, M&T, and SunTrust."
That raised a question in my mind. What about Bank of America?
Berkshire Hathaway's fourth quarter SEC filing shows Berkshire owned 5 million shares of B of A as of December 31, 2008. Earlier in the year, that stake had been cut from 9.1 million shares.
We now have the answer to the 'mystery' of the 'missing' B of A shares.
CNBC Squawk Box co-anchor Becky Quick called Buffett and asked him.
He tells her today the Bank of America's stake didn't come to mind because he, personally, had not bought any of the shares. They were, instead, purchased for Geico by the Berkshire subsidiary's independent stockpicker, Lou Simpson.
Buffett checked, and tells Becky that as of March 31, Geico, and thus Berkshire, still owned the five million share stake in Bank of America.
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