Famous investor and one of the richest men in the world Warren Buffet has had his company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., purchase 10 million additional shares of General MotorsGMUnited States of America, 1998 > present8 models
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stock, which bolsters the company's holdings to 25 million shares. The purchase was disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Thursday February 14. That is quite a Valentine's Day gift. 

The purchase came as GM reported its 2012 financial results. The company said total revenue was up to $152.3 billion, compared to $150.3 billion last year, but operating income fell to $7.9 billion in 2012 from $8.3 billion in 2011. The fall in operating income was attributed to GM's $1.8 billion loss in Europe in 2012, which was even worse than the $700 million loss in 2011. It was profitable in all of its other regions. 

The reported income loss made the stock price fall by 3.2% to $27.75 a share at close. As of this writing, the stock has risen slightly to $27.86 a share. 

Berkshire Hathaway now holds about $700 million in GM stock and is among the company's largest shareholders. The company bought 10 million shares at the beginning of 2012 and another 5 million in the autumn of 2012. 

The US Treasury Department still owns about 19% of GM or about 500 million shares. However, it announced in December that over the next year it will sell the shares. 

Source: Automotive News