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Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought a huge stake in HP

Warren Buffett’s investment firm took a roughly 11% stake in the company.

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought a huge stake in HP

Berkshire's latest grab is its third large investment since late February.

Image: USA International Trade Administration

Berkshire Hathaway just bought a huge stake in HP. Warren Buffett’s investment firm took a roughly 11% stake in the company, which is worth about $4.2 billion based on the stock's closing price at market close on Wednesday.

Berkshire's stake makes it the largest shareholder in the personal computing and printing company. Shares of HP jumped more than 15% in premarket trading Thursday morning, according to CNBC.

"Berkshire Hathaway is one of the world’s most respected investors and we welcome them as an investor in HP Inc," an HP spokesperson told Yahoo Finance.

Berkshire's latest grab is its third large investment since late February. In mid-March, the firm bought a large stake — about 14.6% — in Occidental Petroleum. The firm also bought insurance company Alleghany Corp for $11.6 billion late last month. Prior to Alleghany, Buffett hadn't followed through with a large acquisition in about six years, Reuters pointed out.

Berkshire has taken a fairly conservative approach to investing in tech in the past, with the notable exception being its stake in Apple. Evercore ISI tech analyst Amit Daryanani said Berkshire's investment shows that HP is still a valuable company. “We view Berkshire buying HPQ shares as a positive that validates HPQ’s strategy/deep value,” Daryanani wrote in a note.

HP sees the future of work as hybrid. The company announced plans to buy office headset-maker Poly in late March, and it purchased remote computing software firm Teradici last year.

Sarah Roach

Sarah (Sarahroach_) writes for Source Code at Protocol. She's based in Boston and can be reached at sroach@protocol.com

hpinvestmentwarren buffettstakeberkshire hathaway
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