Buffett surprised by newspaper struggles

OMAHA, Nebraska (AP):

Billionaire Warren Buffett says that he's surprised that the rate of decline in the newspaper industry hasn't slowed much in the past five years.

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway owns a group of more than two dozen small and medium-size newspapers.

At Berkshire's annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, yesterday, Buffett said that the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post are likely the only newspapers that can generate enough revenue from their digital products to replace what they lost from the shift away from print.

He said that he hopes more daily newspapers can find a way to be economically viable because they are so important to society.