Dow Jones
WASHINGTON - Warren Buffett has been busy reshaping the financial-stock portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the holding company he uses as an investment vehicle.
An amended Schedule 13F filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission said Berkshire has amassed a stake of 1.45 million shares of Bank One Corp., and it reported new stakes of 1.14 million shares of the mortgage company Countrywide Credit Inc., as well as 154,900 shares of KeyCorp.
The famed investor also sold some of his larger holdings. In the amended 13F for the quarter that ended June 30, Mr. Buffett disclosed that he continued to reduce his holdings in Freddie Mac, to 48,013,200 shares. At March 31, his position stood at 57,039,700 shares, after a reduction of 4.32 million shares in the first quarter.
The filing also showed that Mr. Buffett trimmed his positions in insurer Chubb Corp., in e-commerce and payment services company First Data Corp., and in insurance company American International Group Inc.
The release of Berkshire Hathaway's filings, which covered several recent quarters of activity, came after the SEC denied a request for confidential status for the filings.
In past years Mr. Buffett has been able to shield certain holdings from public view for up to a year by obtaining confidential filing status for the 13F reports. However, both filings released Wednesday said that the request for confidential status was denied Aug. 28.
The holdings in what would have been the confidential filing totaled 17 positions worth $7.63 billion on March 31, compared with 11 positions valued at $8.06 billion on Dec. 31, 1999, and 15 positions worth $9.33 billion on Sept. 30, 1999.
In the fourth quarter, Mr. Buffett closed out his position in U.S. Bancorp, selling all 14,657,001 shares, valued at $442.5 million.
He also cleared out his entire remaining holding in Walt Disney Co. by selling all 19,971,142 shares, with a value of $519.3 million as of Sept. 30.
