Berkshire now holds $ 4 billion in the largest US bank

Berkshire holds approximately 9% of

Bank of America
Corp.

and

Wells Fargo

& Co., second and fourth in terms of assets, is the largest shareholder of both banks. The new investment in JPMorgan gives Berkshire about 1% of the capital and does not place the company among the top five shareholders of JPMorgan, according to Factset.

Berkshire also took a new stake during the quarter in Pittsburgh Bank

PNC Financial Services Group
Inc.

PNC -1.08%

and has increased its holdings of

Goldman Sachs Group
Inc.

Bank of America,

Bank of New York Mellon
Corp.

BK 0.06%

and

United States Bancorp
.

USB 0.58%

Other bank investments include Wells Fargo and

M & T Bank
Corp.

ATV -1.32%

Berkshire unveiled the new positions on Sept. 30 in a securities deposit Wednesday.

Berkshire has made several major investments in banks and payment companies over the years. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, Berkshire provided needed capital to Bank of America and Goldman, both of whom were striving to maintain investor confidence.

Berkshire also holds stakes in

American Express
Co.

,

MasterCard
Inc.

and

Visa
Inc.

and recently invested approximately $ 600 million in two financial technology companies.

Mr Buffett said he owned a small personal stake in JPMorgan and he told Yahoo Finance earlier this year that Berkshire should have invested in the bank, calling it a "terrifying operation." Berkshire's new investment in JPMorgan follows several existing links between the two companies.

Berkshire Portfolio Manager Todd Combs is a member of the Board of Directors of JPMorgan, and its Managing Director, James Dimon, is a long-time friend of Buffett, President and CEO of Berkshire. In June, they wrote an editorial urging companies to end their practices to provide quarterly earnings forecasts

JPMorgan declined to comment.

Buffett and Dimon also teamed up with Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com Inc., to create a health care company to reduce costs for employees at all three companies.

JPMorgan is poised to declare a record year: it made a profit of $ 8.38 billion in the third quarter, which allowed all of its activities to strengthen. The bank's shares have tripled in the last 10 years, easily exceeding the KBW Nasdaq bank index.

Berkshire has more than $ 100 billion in cash because Buffett is struggling to find big acquisitions. Berkshire owns operating activities, including a railway and manufacturers, and invests in publicly traded shares.

Anxious to pressure Buffett to spend more of his company's cash, Berkshire bought more than $ 900 million of his shares in the third quarter.

Berkshire also acquired new stakes in Oracle Corp. and Travelers Cos. In the third quarter. She sold her interests in Walmart Inc. and Sanofi SA.

-Emily Glazer
contributed to this article.

Write to Nicole Friedman at [email protected]