Berkshire deepens Bending Spoons bet with $330 million, sparking share rally

Oct 14 — Bending Spoons shares rallied 34% on Wednesday after Berkshire ​Hathaway invested another $330 million in the owner of Vimeo and AOL, a big endorsement from ‌the high-profile investor whose moves traders closely follow.

The purchase builds on ⁠the $600 million Berkshire invested ​in Bending Spoons' initial ⁠public offering in July. It lifts the Warren ‌Buffett-founded conglomerate's stake ‌in the company to 4%, making it Italian ⁠company's sixth-largest investor, according to ⁠LSEG data.

Berkshire Hathaway, whose businesses span insurance, energy, rail transportation, manufacturing and retail, has a history of investing across industries.

Under CEO Greg Abel, the conglomerate has increased its exposure to technology companies ‌and AI, with Alphabet becoming its ​third-largest common stock holding. Its largest stock investments include Apple.

Bending Spoons will now issue 10 million ordinary shares to Berkshire at $33 per share. The company's stock, meanwhile, jumped to $51.10.

Bending Spoons, which acquires and transforms struggling digital businesses, said the investment would ​strengthen its financial flexibility and support its acquisition ‌strategy.

It continues to ‌evaluate ⁠merger and acquisition opportunities and has a strong pipeline, said Francesco Patarnello, co-founder and head of business acquisitions.

Bending Spoons, which acquires and transforms digital businesses, has ‌a portfolio that includes ​productivity software maker Airtable, pet-tracking ‌company Tractive and ⁠file-sharing platform ​WeTransfer.

(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by ​Shreya Biswas)

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