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.”
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I am quoted in a Business Insider article: “Warren Buffett is buying a secret stock that could be revealed within weeks”.
“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.
Article by Dr. David Kass
