Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett agrees to buy Omaha World-Herald Co. Rueters

Warren Buffett said newspapers faced the possibility of nearly unending losses and he would not buy most newspapers in the U.S. at any price in May 2009 at a Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting. However, the billionaire announced Wednesday that he has agreed to buy Omaha World-Herald Co., publisher of his hometown newspaper the World-Herald.

While still in high school, one of Warren Buffett's first jobs was delivering newspapers. Filing his first income tax return in 1944, Buffett took a $35 deduction for the use of his bicycle and watch on his paper route.

Berkshire Hathaway also owns the Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper Buffalo News and is the largest shareholder of the Washington Post Co.

The World-Herald delivers solid profits and is one of the best-run newspapers in America, Buffett said in today's statement.

In addition to the Omaha World-Herald, the purchase includes daily newspapers in Grand Island, York, Kearney, North Platte and Scottsbluff in Nebraska, and Council Bluffs, Iowa. The company also owns World Marketing, Inc., a direct marketing firm.

The transaction is expected to close in late December, pending approval of the Omaha World-Herald's shareholders, comprised of active employees, retired employees and the Peter Kiewit Foundation.