Thursday, November 15, 2007

Warren Buffet: Used Car Salesman

From the AP via Yahoo:

Berkshire Invests in Used Car Dealer
Billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has bought nearly 14 million shares of Carmax Inc., the nation's largest specialty used-car retailer, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday.

Berkshire bought the shares -- its first stake in the Richmond, Va.-based company -- sometime in July, August or September, according to Berkshire's quarterly summary of its $65.8 billion portfolio of U.S. stocks.

Carmax operates 86 used car stores nationwide in 39 markets and is preparing to open a new store in Omaha next month about 12 miles west of Buffett's office. Carmax says it sold 337,021 used vehicles and 208,959 wholesale vehicles at auction last year.

Berkshire's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission doesn't say how much the company paid for the shares, which represent about a 6.4 percent stake in Carmax, but they were worth more than $284 million at the end of the quarter on Sept. 30.

Carmax shares gained 13 cents to close at $21.47 Wednesday before the filing was made public. They gained $1.28, or 6 percent, in after-hours trading.

Berkshire again cut its holdings in two railroad companies, Norfolk Southern Corp. and Union Pacific Corp., after months of buying....MORE