Two Richest Men in World Sells

So today, I was reading the Kansas City Business section that was emailed to my home computer.
The first caught my eye:

What’s it say about the status of two Kansas City public companies when the two richest men in the world are selling their shares?

I am not much of a fan of Kansas City, especially the traffic. They have no subway/light-rail system, which is disappointing for a city their size. That fact is the main reason I have always shrugged off the idea of moving to that city. However, that is another story, for another time. Back to the story about these two Kansas City companies and the men who sold their shares in these companies.

Wall Street mostly reacted with a yawn today after Bill Gates and Warren Buffett reported they have sold all or part of their stakes in Great Plains Energy Corp. and H&R Block Inc., respectively.

In midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Block shares were down 4 cents at $22.78 while Great Plains Energy was up 11 cents at $32.19.

In a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp., disclosed that in the first quarter his foundation has sold its stake in Great Plains Energy, the parent company of Kansas City Power & Light Co. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust sold 775,084 Great Plains shares.

Similarly, Buffett revealed that his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. sold about two-thirds of its Block shares, continuing a trend of selling part of his stake in the Kansas City tax-preparation giant.

In the fourth quarter of last year, Berkshire Hathaway sold 60 percent of its holdings in Block.

Berkshire’s position in Block was reduced to 1.25 million shares from 4.11 million in the fourth quarter.

Buffett first reported his ownership in Block six years ago with an 8.43 percent stake. It was more stock than co-founder Henry Bloch owned at the time.

So what did the oracle of Omaha do with all that cash? Why he invested in Johnson & Johnson of course.

While it was selling Block shares, Berkshire nearly doubled its stake in Johnson & Johnson to 48.7 million shares after buying 24.1 million shares during the quarter.