Barrick Gold surges 12% after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway buys a stake
- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought a stake in Barrick Gold in the second quarter, a Friday filing showed.
- Barrick Gold surged as much as 12% on Monday.
- The total stake in Barrick Gold was worth about $564 million, the filing said.
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Barrick Gold surged as much as 12% on Monday after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway revealed it bought a stake in the mining company.
Berkshire Hathaway bought 21 million shares of the gold and copper miner worth roughly $564 million in the last quarter, a Friday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed.
The buy comes as a bit of a surprise; Buffett has been critical of gold, saying it isn't as good of an investment as businesses, farms, and real estate. Still, the precious metal has been on a tear this year as the coronavirus pandemic has sent investors rushing into the so-called safe-haven asset.
While the stake in Barrick Gold is small for Berkshire Hathaway — the entire portfolio is worth about $202 billion — Buffett's company is now the miner's 11th-largest shareholder.
Beyond the investment in Barrick Gold, Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway trimmed its stakes in big banks such as Wells Fargo and JPMorgan and exited Goldman Sachs.
Barrick Gold had surged 45% year-to-date through Friday's close.