Warren Buffett Plans to Leave The Washington Post Board

Warren Buffett will step down as a longtime boardmember of The Washington Post(WPO) at the end of his term in May, the newspaper said Thursday. Buffet, 80, says he won't run for re-election.

He has served on the board since 1974, with the exception of the eight years when he was a director of Capital Cities. "I've loved The Washington Post since I delivered almost 500,000 copies of it as a youth in Washington," Buffett said in a statement Thursday. "That love for the product, the company and the management continues unabated today."

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) holds a 21% stake in the Post, making it the company's largest shareholder. Buffett, a longtime friend and adviser to the Graham family, which controls the Post, said he has no intention of selling shares of the company.

Buffett grabbed plenty of headlines last October when he hired 39-year-old Todd Anthony Combs to manage a "significant" part of Berkshire's investment portfolio. Forbes last year listed the Berkshire chairman as the world's third-wealthiest person, with a financial value estimated at about $47 billion.

Shares of the Post rose $9.86, or 2.3%, to close at $433.25 in New York Stock Exchange trading on Thursday.