Berkshire Buys Stakes In Venerable Japanese Trading Firms

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. Buffett disclosed the new investments Tuesday in interviews with Nikkei and CNBC while he visits Tokyo this week to meet with executives at the Japanese companies. Shares of Itochu Corp., Marubeni Corp., Mitsubishi Corp., Mitsui & Co. and Sumitomo Corp. all surged. 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.