Billionaire Warren Buffett is retiring from the board of Washington Post Co., the publishing company in which his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is the largest shareholder.
Buffett, who joined the board in 1974, will remain a director until the end of his term in May and won’t seek re- election, Washington Post said today in a statement distributed by Business Wire. He’ll continue to consult with the company.
Buffett, 80, is preparing Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire for his eventual departure. Last year, the company announced the addition of money manager Todd Combs to help oversee investments. Buffett stepped down from the board of Coca-Cola Co. in 2006, and the soft-drink maker said in December that his son Howard Buffett was becoming a director.
Washington Post gained $2.61 to $426 at 1:44 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Berkshire was little changed.
Buffett, Berkshire’s chairman, chief executive officer and biggest shareholder, built the company over four decades. He launched a succession plan in 2006. Buffett oversees more than 70 operating units and an investment portfolio that contains the biggest stakes in Wells Fargo & Co. and Atlanta-based Coca-Cola.
Melinda French Gates, who runs the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with her husband, Microsoft Corp.’s co-founder, stepped down from Washington Post’s board in November.
The Washington Post newspaper’s average weekday readership was 545,345 in the six months through September, down 6.4 percent from a year earlier, according to Audit Bureau of Circulations data. That compares with a 5 percent drop industrywide.
(source : Bloomberg)
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