Response to World-Herald sale

» John Gottschalk, World-Herald chairman:

The proposed sale is "a milestone" that will put the newspaper company "into the hands of a corporation deeply rooted in Omaha." Buffett formerly served on The World-Herald's board of directors, Gottschalk noted, and Berkshire has owned the Buffalo (N.Y.) News for decades. "He understands Omaha. He understands the great journalistic legacy of the Omaha World-Herald."

» Harold W. Andersen, retired CEO and publisher of The World-Herald:

"It helps preserve the operation and editorial and communications leadership of The World-Herald in this Midlands area and ... I believe it is consistent with what Pete Kiewit had in mind, namely continued local control of The World-Herald." He said Kiewit once said that it would be difficult for the employee ownership structure to last more than 25 years, and The World-Herald's plan lasted about 30. If the sale goes through, the company will be "under the direction of a man named Warren Buffett who is passionately committed to this community and also committed to the importance of the community newspaper. ... I think it'll work well under Warren."

» Bob Batt, executive vice president of the Nebraska Furniture Mart:

"My grandmother (Mart founder Rose Blumkin) once said, 'If we are going to the sell the company, I'm very happy we are selling to Buffett.' Having Berkshire make another investment in our community is a great deal for everybody. ... We run the company the same as we always did. That's the way Buffett does business. He wants the people that are in place to run the company. And we've always been happy. He's a great business adviser and has provided us a lot of good advice."

» Alice Schroeder, author of "The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life":

"I'm surprised that he would acquire a newspaper, but if he were going to acquire one, the Omaha World-Herald is the only one I would imagine. He has personal considerations, long-standing ties. The things it covers are of deep interest to him. It's local. He loves the institution. He's wanted to buy it for a long time."

» John Morton, newspaper analyst and president of the media consulting firm Morton Research Inc.:

"That's a pretty generous price. That's a price that you would have paid for it five years ago."

» Jeff Matthews, a Berkshire shareholder and the author of "Secrets in Plain Sight: Business and Investing Secrets of Warren Buffett":

"He's rooting for the home team. But he says it's profitable and well-run."

» Gary Kebbel, dean of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's College of Journalism and Mass Communications:

The move strengthens The World-Herald because it won't have to worry as much about its capital needs for expansion, improvement and innovation. "This development gives The World-Herald a huge opportunity to extend its brand to all distribution platforms — even ones that haven't been invented yet — because they'll have the resources to do so."

» Mogens Bay, CEO of Valmont Industries and a trustee of the Peter Kiewit Foundation:

"From our standpoint, this is a win, win, win situation" for The World-Herald, Berkshire Hathaway and the Kiewit Foundation. "We couldn't think of a better long-term owner of the newspaper, if ownership had to change hands, than Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway."

» Bob Sullivan of Springfield, Mass., a Berkshire shareholder since 1973:

"For Warren to buy it, he must think it's a good deal for the shareholders. What's better than buying the best newspaper in that whole area and keeping it well-capitalized and able to grow? He's always said how much he loves the newspapers. I don't think there's anything better than buying his hometown newspaper. I don't think he'd take our capital and put it into the wrong business."

— World-Herald staff writers Steve Jordon, Henry J. Cordes and Leia Mendoza and Bloomberg News contributed to this report.

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