'Personal pride in how my kids turned out' prompts big Thanksgiving donations  

Warren Buffett told CNBC's Becky Quick he chose the day before Thanksgiving for $759 million in donations to family foundations to show he's thankful for his three adult children and their charitable work.

"I've got a personal pride in how my kids have turned out. I feel good about the fact that they know I feel good about them.

"This is the ultimate endorsement in my kids, and it's the ultimate statement that my kids don't want to be dynastically wealthy."

According to an SEC filing, Buffett converted 1600 Class A shares into 2.4 million Class B shares on Tuesday, and then donated them to four family foundations the next day. (Values are based on Wednesday's closing price of $316.18.

• 1.5 million shares valued at $474.3 million to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named after his first wife.
• 300 thousand shares valued at $94.9 million to the Sherwood Foundation, chaired by his daughter, Susan A. Buffett.
• 300 thousand shares valued at $94.9 million to the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, chaired by his older son.
• 300 thousand shares valued at $94.9 million to the NoVo Foundation, run by his younger son, Peter, and Peter's wife, Jennifer.

The four foundations also receive annual contributions from Buffett, made at the same time as his larger gifts to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which are part of his 2006 plan to give away the bulk of his fortune.

In June of this year, he gave stock worth around $3 billion to the Gates Foundation and another $1 billion to the family foundations.

Around the same time, The Wall Street Journal reported Buffett may be planning to direct as much as $100 billion worth of shares to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, which "has spent the bulk of its funds on abortion access and reproductive health."

The Journal's report involved the undistributed Berkshire shares Buffett will still own when he dies. His plan to donate to the Gates Foundation during his lifetime would not be affected.

Berkshire adds in Japan ...

New filings show Berkshire has increased its stake to more than 6% in Japan's five biggest 'trading houses,' highly diversified companies that deal with many products and services.

The total value of the holdings is approximately $12 billion.

• Mitsubishi Corp.: 6.59% from 5.04%, $3.3 billion apx. value
• Mitsui & Co.: 6.62% from 5.03%, $3.0 billion apx. value
• Itochu Corp.:6.21% from 5.02%, $3.1 billion apx. value
• Marubeni Corp.: 6.75% from 5.06%, $1.3 billion apx. value
• Sumitomo Corp.: 6.57% from 5.04%, $1.4 billion apx. value

Monex Chief Strategist Takashi Hiroki tells Reuters he is not surprised given double-digit percentage gains for the trading house stocks since the start of the year.

"Trading companies' high stock prices are associated with high commodities prices, but there's much more to their businesses than that. Their earnings are good and shareholder returns are strong."

When Berkshire first revealed in 2020 it had stakes of more than 5% in the companies, it said they were long-term investments and that they could go as high as 9.9%.

... and continues to subtract in China

Berkshire sold 6.9 million shares of BYD between November 8 and November 17, bringing its stake to 175.6 million shares currently valued at $3.8 billion. That's just under 16% of the Chinese electric vehicle maker's outstanding shares.

It is also a 22.0% reduction from the 225 million shares it bought in 2008 for around $230 million, and that it still held as of the end of last year.

The series of sales were first disclosed by Berkshire during the summer.

Hong Kong rules only require a filing when a particular sale causes the percentage stake to cross a whole number, so there are interim sales that have not been detailed.

BUFFETT AROUND THE INTERNET

Some links may require a subscription

• Bloomberg (subscription): Buffett’s $5 Billion TSMC Purchase Adds to Wave of Bullish Calls

• CNBC Pro (subscription): Warren Buffett’s first big semiconductor investment in his career is also a bet on Apple’s future

• TheStreet: How Warren Buffett Got Apple Stock Wrong

• Bloomberg (subscription): Berkshire Is Said to Sound Out Investors on Yen Bond Deal

• Markets Insider on MSN: Bernie Sanders calls out Warren Buffett for getting richer as rail workers fight for better working conditions

BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH

BERKSHIRE'S TOP U.S. STOCK HOLDINGS - Nov. 25, 2022

Berkshire's top holdings of disclosed publicly-traded U.S. stocks, and BYD, by market value, based on today's closing prices.

Holdings are as of September 30, 2022 as reported in Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F filing on November 14, 2022, except for:

• Apple, Bank of America, Chevron, and U.S. Bancorp, which also include shares held as of September 30, 2022 as disclosed in New England Asset Management’s 13F filing on November 14, 2022
• BYD, which is as of November 17, 2022

The full list of holdings and current market values is available from CNBC.com's Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS

Please send any questions or comments about the newsletter to me at alex.crippen@nbcuni.com. (Sorry, but we don't forward questions or comments to Buffett himself.)

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-- Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch