Warren Buffett bought 23 million shares of Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI, Financial) and said that he bought another two rail companies. Today we learned that these two companies are Norfolk Southern Corp (NSC, Financial) and Union Pacific Corp (UNP, Financial).
According to the latest filing of Berkshire Hathaway, as of Dec. 31, 2006, Berkshire owns 3,954,700 shares of Norfolk Southern Corp (NSC) and 8,211,200 shares of Union Pacific Corp (UNP). Warren Buffett started to buy these two rail companies together with Burlington Northern Santa Fe in the third quarter of 2006. On Sept 30, 2006, Berkshire’s holdings in rail companies were valued at $492 million. During the following quarters Warren Buffett continued to add to his holdings in these companies. On Dec. 31, 2006, his holdings in these companies were valued at $2.1 billion.
GuruFocus has been hosting a contest, guessing what two other companies that Buffett bought are. A number of users think Canadian National Railway Company (CNI, Financial) is one of them, which is one of Bill Gates’ holdings. A number of participants get one of them right, none seems to get both right.
Buffett’s purchase of rail companies has surprised a lot of his followers. During the Berkshire annual meeting a week ago, Buffett said that railroad business would never be "sensational," yet its prospects had improve. Charlie Munger, Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, commented during the annual meeting of Wesco Financial (WSC), Buffett and he himself “used to not like them because they needed large amounts of capital, had tough unions, and stiff competition from the trucking business. The paradigm had shifted. Now the railroad industry has a competitive advantage by double-stacking freight. With all of the imports from China, the U.S. has a huge amount of freight being sent across the county.”
"I've got an elephant gun, I just can't find the elephant," Warren Buffett said during an interview. With about $50 billion in cash, Buffett is seen to look into the new areas for investment ideas.
Both Norfolk Southern Corp (NSC) and Union Pacific Corp (UNP) are in the portfolios of others Gurus including George Soros and Dodge & Cox.
What else did Warren Buffett buy? We should know this today. Stay tuned.
According to the latest filing of Berkshire Hathaway, as of Dec. 31, 2006, Berkshire owns 3,954,700 shares of Norfolk Southern Corp (NSC) and 8,211,200 shares of Union Pacific Corp (UNP). Warren Buffett started to buy these two rail companies together with Burlington Northern Santa Fe in the third quarter of 2006. On Sept 30, 2006, Berkshire’s holdings in rail companies were valued at $492 million. During the following quarters Warren Buffett continued to add to his holdings in these companies. On Dec. 31, 2006, his holdings in these companies were valued at $2.1 billion.
GuruFocus has been hosting a contest, guessing what two other companies that Buffett bought are. A number of users think Canadian National Railway Company (CNI, Financial) is one of them, which is one of Bill Gates’ holdings. A number of participants get one of them right, none seems to get both right.
Buffett’s purchase of rail companies has surprised a lot of his followers. During the Berkshire annual meeting a week ago, Buffett said that railroad business would never be "sensational," yet its prospects had improve. Charlie Munger, Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, commented during the annual meeting of Wesco Financial (WSC), Buffett and he himself “used to not like them because they needed large amounts of capital, had tough unions, and stiff competition from the trucking business. The paradigm had shifted. Now the railroad industry has a competitive advantage by double-stacking freight. With all of the imports from China, the U.S. has a huge amount of freight being sent across the county.”
"I've got an elephant gun, I just can't find the elephant," Warren Buffett said during an interview. With about $50 billion in cash, Buffett is seen to look into the new areas for investment ideas.
Both Norfolk Southern Corp (NSC) and Union Pacific Corp (UNP) are in the portfolios of others Gurus including George Soros and Dodge & Cox.
What else did Warren Buffett buy? We should know this today. Stay tuned.
