The third wealthiest man in the world is now a major stakeholder in Miami's local media market. Mega-investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway holding company has agreed to buy Miami's ABC affiliate, WPLG, in a stock-swap deal that's valued at $1.1 billion.
WPLG, commonly known as Local 10, has been owned by Graham Holdings for more than 40 years. However, up until recently Graham Holdings was known as the Washington Post Co. until it sold its flagship property, the Washington Post, to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has been a major stockholder in Graham Holdings/Washington Post Co. since the 1970s. This deal essentially will see Buffett reducing his investment in the company.
According to Variety, he'll fork over 1.6 million shares of Graham Holdings Class B common stock back to the company for an undisclosed amount of cash in exchange for the station. Graham Holdings will swap shares it owns in Berkshire Hathaway.
WPLG will be the only television station owned outright but Buffett's company, though the company owns several newspapers.
Of Miami's four major English-language broadcast affiliates, WPLG is one of only two that are independently owned. NBC affiliate WTVJ and CBS affiliate WFOR are both owned and operated by those networks. Fox affiliate WSVN is owned by Sunbeam Television.
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