TOKYO (AP) — Billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has taken stakes of just over 5% in five major Japanese trading houses in what it says is a long-term investment.
Share prices of the five huge companies surged between 4% to 9.5% on Monday in Tokyo after the company announced the investment.
Berkshire Hathaway said Monday in an announcement that its subsidiary National Indemnity Co. planned to notify regulators of the purchases that had been made over the past year. It said it might increase the stakes to up to 9.9% in any of the companies.
The powerful trading houses are some of Japan's oldest and biggest companies and the anchors of industrial groups.
