Warren Buffett buys Roanoke Times from Landmark

Billionaire Warren Buffett, the "Oracle of Omaha," continues to invest in newspapers. His BH Media Group is buying The Roanoke Times from Norfolk-based Landmark Media Enterprises, further expanding Buffett's holdings in Virginia. The purchase was the second from Landmark this year; the Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary bought the Greensboro News & Record in January.

“Of the people who are buying newspapers now, I think Berkshire is the best home for The Roanoke Times,” Landmark Chairman and CEO Frank Batten Jr. said. “They are a reputable company, and they have good ethical standards. . . . They’re hard-nosed business people like everybody else, but I think they understand the value and the role of newspapers.” For the Times story, by Laurence Hammack, click here.

Steve Jordon of the Omaha World-Herald notes that the Times "will be the 29th daily newspaper owned by BH Media, which also owns 40 newspapers published once, twice or three times a week, plus shoppers, monthly publications and regional magazines and related online publications. . . . Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire, has been assembling a network of small and medium-sized newspapers since he bought The World-Herald in December 2011." Most were bought from Media General Corp. of Richmond, with heavy interests in Virginia and North Carolina. Here's a list.

The deal leaves Landmark, which made billions selling The Weather Channel to NBC Universal, with The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk and about 56 community newspapers, overseen from Shelbyville, Ky. It also owns KLAS-TV in Las Vegas.