Warren Buffett to support Bloomberg if he runs in 2020
Michael Bloomberg has yet to announce whether he will run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, but the former New York City mayor has one fellow billionaire in his corner: famed investor Warren Buffett.
"If Mike Bloomberg announced tomorrow that he was a candidate, I would say I'm for him," the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway told CNBC on Monday. "I think he would be a very good president."
Bloomberg remains undecided on whether to run in a crowded Democratic primary field, but is reportedly planning to invest as much as $500 million of his own money to defeat President Trump regardless. The speculation, however, has caused concern in the Bloomberg newsroom over whether its founder would shutter the division if he mounts a campaign, sources previously told Fox Business.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BRK.A | BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC. | 722,497.29 | +8,217.28 | +1.15% |
| KHC | THE KRAFT HEINZ CO. | 31.81 | +0.72 | +2.32% |
Berkshire Hathaway on Saturday reported a rare loss in the fourth-quarter, which Buffett attributed to his large stake in Kraft Heinz. The food and beverage company on Thursday wrote down the value of its key brands by $15 billion and disclosed a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into its accounting practices, sending its stock to the lowest level ever after Wall Street trading ended on Friday.
Buffett told CNBC on Monday he was “wrong in a couple ways about Kraft Heinz.”
“We overpaid for Kraft,” he said. “We paid $100 billion in tangible assets. So for us, it has to earn $107 billion, not just the $7 billion that the business employs."
The largest owner of Kraft stock, Buffett says he has no intention in selling his shares in the Chicago-based company.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP
Berkshire Hathaway ended 2018 with $111.9 billion in cash, but Buffett has no immediate plans to make any significant acquisitions because prices are too high.
"That disappointing reality means that 2019 will likely see us again expanding our holdings of marketable equities," he wrote in an annual letter to investors. "We continue, nevertheless, to hope for an elephant-sized acquisition."