Berkshire Hathaway divested its stake in Bank of America, the largest United States lender by assets, as chairman Warren Buffett took control of the portfolio previously run by his backup stock picker, Lou Simpson.
Buffett's firm had no shares at the end of last year, compared with five million shares three months earlier, Berkshire said yesterday in a regulatory filing that lists the company's US stockholdings.
Berkshire also eliminated its stakes in Nike, Comcast, Nalco Holding, Fiserv and Loews.
Buffett, 80, is reshaping Berkshire's stock portfolio amid changes in the company's investment managers.
Simpson, once identified by Buffett as his emergency stand-in, retired late last year. Berkshire, the biggest shareholder of Coca-Cola and Wells Fargo, hired former hedge fund manager Todd Combs to help Buffett with equity investments.
Buffett, also Berkshire's chief executive, has trimmed the portfolio since the 2008 financial crisis and focused on buying whole companies.
- Bloomberg
Buffett gets out of Bank of America
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