Rare Book Monthly

Articles - April - 2013 Issue

Someone Very Rich Still Believes in Newspapers

Do you still believe in newspapers? Many have written them off, consigned them to virtual extinction over the next decade or so. However, one person who does still believe in newspapers is America's most successful investor. Warren Buffet has put his money where his mouth is. Well, let's not get too carried away. We'll say he sort of believes and has sort of put his money there. It is a somewhat tepid endorsement, but a welcome one nonetheless. What was once the major if not only way to deliver current news needs all the friends it can get.

Mr. Buffet devoted several pages of his annual letter to shareholders to newspapers. Even he was aware that this might seem an odd investment, beginning the section with the ironic heading, “We Buy Some Newspapers. . . Newspapers?” He goes on to write, “During the past fifteen months, we acquired 28 daily newspapers at a cost of $344 million. This may puzzle you for two reasons. First, I have long told you in these letters and at our annual meetings that the circulation, advertising and profits of the newspaper industry overall are certain to decline. That prediction still holds.”

Circulation, advertising, and most of all, profits falling doesn't sound like the basis for an investment. Not depressed enough? Buffet goes on to write about how “newspapers were the primary source for an incredible variety of news, a fact that made them indispensable to a very high percentage of the population.” International, national and local news, sports and stock quotes all arrived first through your newspaper. Additionally, the advertising was a form of “news,” providing job openings, movie listings, and supermarket specials to readers. That made the local newspaper “indispensable to advertisers.” In communities with just one newspaper, and most cities saw the field condense to one, “its profits were certain to be extraordinary.”

“Now the world has changed,” Mr. Buffet continues. Stock and sports news is out of date before “the presses begin to roll.” The internet has replaced classified advertising, national news flows quickly from the television set. “In one area of interest after another, newspapers have therefore lost their 'primacy.' And, as their audiences have fallen, so has advertising.” Buffet has really made a strong case for newspapers. Why on earth would anyone invest $344 million in such a dying business?

Here is Buffet's answer: “Newspapers continue to reign supreme, however, in the delivery of local news. If you want to know what’s going on in your town – whether the news is about the mayor or taxes or high school football – there is no substitute for a local newspaper that is doing its job... Wherever there is a pervasive sense of community, a paper that serves the special informational needs of that community will remain indispensable to a significant portion of its residents.”

Still, Mr. Buffet acknowledges that local newspapers face difficulties and uncertainties. They need an internet presence, and have traditionally offered their online content for free. “How could this lead to anything other than a sharp and steady drop in sales of the printed product?” he asks. He notes that some newspapers have begun charging for web content, and said these have seen their circulation hold up better than most. Charging, however, is only a relatively recent phenomenon and he remains uncertain as to whether it will resolve the issue of subscribers moving from a paid newspaper to a free website. Unstated is the issue that charging for online content may be difficult because people are used to web content being free, and TV stations and others, used to providing free content, compete online for local news. “Whatever works best – and the answer is not yet clear – will be copied widely,” he adds uncertainly.

Buffet, and his company, Berkshire Hathaway, have mostly limited themselves to smaller market daily newspapers. His largest are in Omaha and Buffalo, but he has owned them for a long time. Were it not for his own beginnings in the newspaper business and a personal fondness, it is questionable whether he would be invested at all. When he purchased a group of newspapers a year ago, he deliberately left out the largest group in the chain, the Tampa daily. The risk appears lower when staying out of the large cities.

And then there is the point about that $344 million invested. To you and I, that sounds like a lot of money. For Mr. Buffet, who is personally worth over $50 billion, it is not. Berkshire Hathaway maintains a market capitalization of over $250 billion. To this company, its investment in newspapers is barely more than one-tenth of one percent of its net worth. Recently, the company announced a $23.6 billion offer to purchase H.J. Heinz Co. That's $23 billion for ketchup and pickles versus $343 million for newspapers. Mr. Buffet may be toying with a business he loves more than making a serious investment. The space in his letter devoted to newspapers far outweighs the size of his investment. Nonetheless, we will take anything positive about print media these days, especially when it comes from a man with such a sterling reputation.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.

Article Search

Archived Articles