Bending Spoons Jumps 41% as Berkshire Hathaway Invests Another $330 Million, Lifting Its Stake to 4%

Bending Spoons (BSP) shares soared on Wednesday after a securities filing showed Berkshire Hathaway is making a fresh $330 million investment in the Milan-based company. Under the deal, Bending Spoons will issue 10 million ordinary shares to Berkshire at $33 each, bringing Berkshire's stake to 4%. The stock was up 35.4% by 10:35 a.m. ET and rose as much as 54% intraday, according to Yahoo Finance coverage, and our delayed snapshot after the close showed it at $53.46, up 41.2%.

This is Berkshire's second bet on the company. It invested $600 million when Bending Spoons went public on the Nasdaq in July, which takes its combined commitment to the $930 million Barron's cited in its headline. The $33 purchase price is about a 13% discount to Tuesday's close, The Motley Fool noted. Bending Spoons is a serial acquirer whose businesses include Airtable, AOL, Brightcove, Eventbrite, Evernote, Tractive, Vimeo and WeTransfer, per its announcement; the Financial Times described it as the conglomerate that owns AOL and Vimeo. "Bending Spoons continuously evaluates M&A opportunities, and our pipeline remains strong," co-founder Francesco Patarnello said, while CEO Luca Ferrari called Berkshire "among the finest and most respected capital allocators in the world."

Trading was heavy. The stock traded up $14.85 to $52.71 by midday, and options activity included unusually large put buying, 18,583 contracts against a typical 1,580. The company last reported on Aug. 13, posting EPS of $0.46 against a $0.27 consensus on revenue of $704.15 million, up 126.3% from a year earlier.

For Berkshire, $330 million is a small position, and no source reported a material move in its own shares. For Bending Spoons it is an endorsement from a closely watched investor plus fresh capital for an acquisition strategy its founders say remains active. The shares are issued in a placement that is subject to customary closing conditions. The near-term questions are whether the stock holds a gain that leaves it well above Berkshire's $33 entry price, and what the company buys next.