In Berkshire’s 13F for the third quarter: “Confidential information has been omitted from the public Form 13F report and filed separately with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.”
“He is undoubtedly building a large position now and may reveal it in his next 13F,” David Kass, a finance professor at the University of Maryland who has closely followed Buffett for more than 30 years, told Business Insider.
“Buffett has received confidentiality treatment several times in the past,” Kass continued. “I believe most recently around 2015 he was building a position in Phillips 66.”
Indeed, the confidentiality clause appears in Berkshire’s 13F for the second quarter of 2015, published in August of that year. Buffett and his team disclosed a $2.5 billion stake in Phillips 66 in an amended 13F filing a few weeks later.
Berkshire’s 13F forms for the first and second quarters of 2011 also excluded a holding “pursuant to a request for confidential treatment.”
A flurry of filings in November of that year revealed Buffett’s company had been buying IBM, growing its stake in the computing giant from 4.5 million shares in March, to 24.8 million shares in June, then 57.3 million shares worth more than $10 billion at the end of September.
David I Kass
Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Finance
Ph.D., Harvard University
Robert H. Smith School of Business
4412 Van Munching Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-1815
Phone: 301-405-9683
Email: dkass@rhsmith.umd.edu (link sends e-mail)
Dr. David Kass has published articles in corporate finance, industrial organization, and health economics. He currently teaches Advanced Financial Management and Business Finance, and is the Faculty Champion for the Accelerated Finance Fellows. Prior to joining the faculty of the Smith School in 2004, he held senior positions with the Federal Government (Federal Trade Commission, General Accounting Office, Department of Defense, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis). Dr. Kass has recently appeared on Bloomberg TV, CNBC, PBS Nightly Business Report, Maryland Public Television, Business News Network TV (Canada), Fox TV, American Public Media's Marketplace Radio, and WYPR Radio (Baltimore), and has been quoted on numerous occasions by Bloomberg News and The Wall Street Journal, where he has primarily discussed Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. He has also launched a Smith School “Warren Buffett” blog. Dr. Kass has accompanied MBA students on trips to Omaha for private meetings with Warren Buffett, and Finance Fellows to Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meetings. He is an officer of the Harvard Business School Club of Washington, DC, and is a member of the investment and budget committees of a local nonprofit organization. Dr. Kass received a Smith School “Top 15% Teaching Award” for the 2009-2010 academic year.
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