Warren Buffett bought more Activision Blizzard stock for arbitrage play as Microsoft chases deal

Warren Buffett snapped up more Activision Blizzard Inc. stock in a merger arbitrage bet, as Microsoft Corp. pursues its deal to buy the video-game maker in what would be one of the largest mergers in U.S. history.

Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc,  now owns about 9.5% of the company’s stock, Buffett said Saturday at his annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. (REUTERS)

 Warren Buffett snapped up more Activision Blizzard Inc. stock in a merger arbitrage bet, as Microsoft Corp. pursues its deal to buy the video-game maker in what would be one of the largest mergers in U.S. history.

His Berkshire Hathaway Inc. now owns about 9.5% of the company's stock, Buffett said Saturday at his annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. That's up from the roughly 1.87% stake the company held at the end of 2021, according to its latest 13F filing, a portion acquired by one of Buffett's investing deputies, Todd Combs or Ted Weschler. 

Activision shareholders approved the company's $69 billion sale to Microsoft on Thursday, though some on Wall Street are betting that President Joe Biden's antitrust enforcers could unravel the deal. Buffett is familiar with some deal arbitrage plays, having previously invested in Red Hat Inc., which was bought by International Business Machines Corp. He also previously bet on Monsanto Co., which Bayer AG acquired.

“It is my purchases, not the manager who bought it some months ago,” Buffett said about the latest Activision purchases. “If the deal goes through, we make some money and if the deal doesn't go through, who knows what happens.”