Berkshire bought into Bending Spoons at a 13% discount, and the stock closed up 41% the same day

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) is buying 10 million shares of an Italian software company. The news came Wednesday, Oct. 14. Berkshire pays $33 a share, nearly 13% below Tuesday's close. The stock closed up 41% anyway. The discount didn't matter. The name on the check did.

The company is Bending Spoons (BSP), based in Milan. It buys fading tech brands and runs them for their subscription money. It now owns AOL, Evernote and Vimeo. Berkshire put $600 million into its July IPO. The new $330 million brings Berkshire's stake to 4%, the Journal's Colin Kellaher reports. Bending Spoons says it'll use the money for more acquisitions.

The shares got the Berkshire bump. For years, a Buffett purchase lifted a stock the day it became public. Wednesday showed the effect outlives Buffett's tenure. A new chief executive took over from Buffett this year. He's reshaping what Berkshire owns. The biggest sign came in the second quarter, when Berkshire added $17 billion of shares in Alphabet (GOOGL), Google's parent. A software roll-up in Italy is a smaller bet in the same direction. A Berkshire spokeswoman didn't respond to a request for comment.

What Berkshire is becoming

Buffett built Berkshire on insurance, railroads, utilities and consumer brands people buy without thinking. The new chief's early moves lean toward technology and subscriptions. That may work out fine. It is a change. A stock that rises 41% on a 13% discount tells you the market still trusts the Berkshire name. It also tells you part of that price is the name, not the business. A long-term holder should know which one they own.

Our read

This is Investments/Risk · IN04. Berkshire is held at weight in 22 books; nothing added. Alphabet is in 28. We've owned Berkshire as the steady, cash-rich holding that zigs when tech zags. Under its new chief, a little more of it is tech. For now the core is unchanged, and so is our position. We'd rather read the next annual letter than guess at the next deal.

Your plan touches this in one place. Many people hold Berkshire, or a value fund that holds it, as the 'safe' part of their stock mix. They bought the Buffett version. This week, look up your Berkshire holding or your large-value fund's top ten and count how much of it is already tech. If the safe sleeve and the growth sleeve own the same five names, you have one bet wearing two labels. Check the spare tire in the driveway, before the trip. That's a 20-minute look we'd be glad to do with you in a review.