UPDATE: Buffett's Berkshire Sells Bank of America, Nike, Fiserv

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(Adds value of shares sold, decline in holdings of Moody's and Bank of New
York.)



By Erik Holm and Serena Ng



NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKA, BRKB)
eliminated positions in several stocks in the fourth quarter, including Bank of
America Corp. (BAC), Nike Inc. (NKE) and Fiserv Inc. (FISV), as one of its long-
time investment managers retired.


Berkshire also sold all its shares of Becton Dickinson & Co. (BDX), Comcast
Corp. (CMCSA), Lowe's Cos. (LOW), Nalco Holding Co. (NLC) and American
depository receipts of Nestle SA (NSRGY, NESN.VX), according to a regulatory
filing Monday.


Each of the positions Berkshire exited appeared to be holdings of car insurer
Geico Corp., a subsidiary whose portfolio was long managed by Louis Simpson, who
retired from the company late last year. Simpson, who is in his 70s, worked at
Geico for more than 30 years and had autonomy over the subsidiary's $4 billion
stock portfolio.


The shares of the companies eliminated from the Berkshire portfolio in the
last three months of 2010 had been worth about $1.2 billion at the end of the
third quarter.


The stock sales are part of a passing of the guard to Todd Combs, a former
hedge-fund manager who is taking over a portion of the investment duties at
Berkshire. The 40-year-old Combs, who recently joined Berkshire as an investment
manager, is expected to get $2 billion to $3 billion to invest initially.


Berkshire's $52.6 billion U.S. equity portfolio now includes just 25
companies, the fewest in several years. At the end of the third quarter,
Berkshire held $48.6 billion in stocks after exiting investments in firms
including CarMax Inc. (KMX), Home Depot Inc. (HD) and NRG Energy Inc. (NRG),
stocks that were in Geico's accounts.


The fourth-quarter increase in the size of the portfolio reflects substantial
increases in the value of major holdings, including Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and
Coca-Cola Co. (KO).


Berkshire added to its holdings of Wells Fargo, its only addition to its
massive portfolio in the fourth quarter. The stake rose about 1.8% to 342.6
million shares when calculated according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission rules that govern the quarterly disclosure. Berkshire is the San
Francisco bank's largest shareholder.


A separate filing late Monday showed that Berkshire and Buffett together owned
369.2 million shares as of Dec. 31. That figure appeared to include 10.9 million
shares held by Buffett directly and stock owned by its employee benefit plans
and subsidiaries not included in the other filing. Those holdings constitute 7%
of Wells Fargo's outstanding shares.


Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire reduced holdings of Bank of New York Mellon Corp.
(BK) and Moody's Corp. (MCO). Its Bank of New York stake fell 10% to 1.79
million shares, while Moody's declined 1.6% to 28.4 million. The sale of the
Moody's shares was first disclosed in October.


Buffett's company, like other firms that control an investment portfolio of
more than $100 million, is required to report its U.S. stock holdings 45 days
after the end of a given quarter, giving the public its freshest possible
glimpse at the investing decisions of the "Oracle of Omaha." The filing with the
Securities and Exchange Commission is scrutinized by professional money managers
and amateur investors alike, and Buffett's stock picks have the power to move
the shares of the companies he's buying and selling.


But Buffett, Berkshire's chairman and chief executive, has long warned
investors who want to piggyback on his stock picks that not all moves in the
portfolio are his. While some of the company's investment decisions in past
quarters have been Simpson's, now Combs will be managing a portion of the
portfolio.


Combs, tapped for the job in October, was formerly a little-known hedge fund
manager of a Connecticut hedge fund called Castle Point.


Berkshire's stakes in American Express Co. (AXP), Coca-Cola and Kraft Foods
Inc. (KFT) remained unchanged. Buffett's firm appeared to remain the largest
shareholder in each, though other money managers were also reporting the
contents of their portfolios after the close of trading Monday, making an exact
determination difficult.



-By Erik Holm, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2892; erik.holm@dowjones.com