Warren Buffett Ups Stakes In Japanese Trading Houses

Billionaire Warren Buffett's company has increased its investments in five major Japanese trading houses to give Berkshire Hathaway control of 7.4% of each of those conglomerates, Mainichi Japan reported.

Photo Insert: Shares of Itochu Corp., Marubeni Corp., Mitsubishi Corp., Mitsui & Co., and Sumitomo Corp. all surged after Buffett's new investments were reported.

Buffett disclosed the new investments in interviews with Nikkei and CNBC while he is visiting Tokyo this week to meet with executives at Japanese companies. Buffett said he is "very proud" of his investments in the trading houses that were first disclosed back in 2020.

Shares of Itochu Corp., Marubeni Corp., Mitsubishi Corp., Mitsui & Co., and Sumitomo Corp. all surged after Buffett's new investments were reported, the Associated Press (AP) also reported.

Those trading houses themselves are some of Japan's oldest and biggest companies that each hold investments in a variety of industries and other companies.

Their conglomerate business models are somewhat similar to Buffett's own company which owns dozens of companies including BNSF railroad, several major utilities, and Geico insurance while also investing more than $300 billion in stocks.

Berkshire owns major stakes in Apple, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, American Express, and several other iconic companies. And many investors follow Buffett's moves closely because of his remarkably successful track record over the years.

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