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WEITZ PARTNERS, INC.
Supplement dated April 4, 1997 to the
Prospectus dated April 19, 1996
The information on pages 6 and 7 of the Prospectus is amended in its entirety as
follows:
The chart below depicts the change in the value of a $100,000 investment
for the period December 31, 1985 through December 31, 1995 for Weitz Partners II
- - Limited Partnership, the predecessor to the Fund, (the "Predecessor
Partnership") and the Fund as compared with the growth of the S&P 500 index
during the same period. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index consisting of 500
companies. The information assumes reinvestment of dividends and capital gains
distributions. The Fund succeeded to substantially all of the assets of the
Predecessor Partnership, a Nebraska investment limited partnership as of
December 31, 1993. The Fund's investment objectives and policies are
substantially identical to those of the Predecessor Partnership and Wallace R.
Weitz was the General Partner and portfolio manager for the Predecessor
Partnership and is the portfolio manager for the Fund. The Predecessor
Partnership was not registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the
"1940 Act") and therefore was not subject to certain investment restrictions
imposed by the 1940 Act. If the Predecessor Partnership had been registered
under the 1940 Act, the performance of the Predecessor Partnership may have been
adversely affected. As indicated, $100,000 originally invested in the
Predecessor Partnership on December 31, 1985, would have been valued at $343,324
on December 31, 1995.
WEITZ PARTNERS VALUE FUND AND PREDECESSOR PARTNERSHIP VALUE OF $100,000
INVESTMENT
PV
MONTH ENDING VALUE OF $100,000 S&P $100,000
------------ ----------------- ------------
12/31/85 $100,000 $100,000
01/31/86 $100,300 $100,557
02/28/86 $106,779 $108,068
03/31/86 $111,713 $114,101
04/30/86 $110,461 $112,815
05/31/86 $112,660 $118,812
06/30/86 $112,851 $120,823
07/31/86 $110,007 $114,069
08/31/86 $112,130 $122,527
09/30/86 $110,549 $112,392
10/31/86 $112,495 $118,878
11/30/86 $112,574 $121,766
12/31/86 $111,100 $118,653
01/31/87 $116,688 $134,629
02/28/87 $119,069 $139,943
03/31/87 $122,022 $143,980
04/30/87 $119,960 $142,701
05/31/87 $120,223 $143,932
06/30/87 $121,498 $151,200
07/31/87 $124,389 $158,858
08/31/87 $126,367 $164,780
09/30/87 $126,633 $161,167
10/31/87 $115,995 $126,481
11/30/87 $114,105 $116,077
12/31/87 $115,877 $124,926
01/31/88 $119,609 $130,177
02/29/88 $122,360 $136,215
03/31/88 $122,690 $132,012
04/30/88 $124,395 $133,472
05/31/88 $125,104 $134,607
06/30/88 $127,919 $140,778
07/31/88 $128,968 $140,242
08/31/88 $128,917 $135,484
09/30/88 $131,405 $141,249
10/31/88 $132,259 $145,179
11/30/88 $131,214 $143,102
12/31/88 $133,143 $145,595
01/31/89 $138,362 $156,227
02/28/89 $138,916 $152,341
03/31/89 $141,902 $155,890
04/30/89 $148,430 $163,975
05/31/89 $149,573 $170,580
06/30/89 $151,981 $169,619
<PAGE>
WEITZ PARTNERS VALUE FUND AND PREDECESSOR PARTNERSHIP VALUE OF $100,000
INVESTMENT
PV
MONTH ENDING VALUE OF $100,000 S&P $100,000
------------ ----------------- ------------
07/31/89 $157,148 $184,920
08/31/89 $159,113 $188,520
09/30/89 $160,942 $187,751
10/31/89 $158,496 $183,396
11/30/89 $158,845 $187,119
12/31/89 $160,171 $191,605
01/31/90 $151,378 $178,748
02/28/90 $152,725 $181,064
03/31/90 $152,587 $185,857
04/30/90 $152,069 $181,227
05/31/90 $159,322 $198,854
06/30/90 $159,992 $197,513
07/31/90 $157,160 $196,881
08/31/90 $148,563 $179,103
09/30/90 $143,958 $170,398
10/31/90 $137,911 $169,677
11/30/90 $145,428 $180,620
12/31/90 $150,080 $185,647
01/31/91 $159,670 $193,711
02/28/91 $168,261 $207,544
03/31/91 $172,030 $212,564
04/30/91 $174,077 $213,068
05/31/91 $179,073 $222,224
06/30/91 $173,110 $212,050
07/31/91 $177,541 $221,925
08/31/91 $180,844 $226,868
09/30/91 $183,773 $223,068
10/31/91 $184,600 $226,060
11/30/91 $179,081 $216,973
12/31/91 $192,253 $241,744
01/31/92 $194,502 $237,244
02/29/92 $197,420 $240,313
03/31/92 $197,617 $235,643
04/30/92 $198,329 $242,552
05/31/92 $200,550 $243,735
06/30/92 $201,131 $240,108
07/31/92 $203,263 $249,909
08/31/92 $199,361 $244,801
09/30/92 $202,152 $247,676
10/31/92 $200,252 $248,526
11/30/92 $213,909 $256,962
12/31/92 $221,283 $260,113
01/31/93 $227,833 $262,286
<PAGE>
WEITZ PARTNERS VALUE FUND AND PREDECESSOR PARTNERSHIP VALUE OF $100,000
INVESTMENT
PV
MONTH ENDING VALUE OF $100,000 S&P $100,000
------------ ----------------- ------------
02/28/93 $232,185 $265,857
03/31/93 $236,457 $271,461
04/30/93 $229,978 $264,899
05/31/93 $237,268 $271,961
06/30/93 $242,915 $272,754
07/31/93 $246,850 $271,655
08/31/93 $262,748 $281,937
09/30/93 $260,672 $279,773
10/31/93 $269,717 $285,556
11/30/93 $265,941 $282,843
12/31/93 $272,178 $286,262
01/31/94 $275,499 $295,984
02/28/94 $264,720 $287,955
03/31/94 $251,846 $275,418
04/30/94 $252,908 $278,952
05/31/94 $260,393 $283,514
06/30/94 $254,487 $276,568
07/31/94 $259,821 $285,643
08/31/94 $266,272 $297,330
09/30/94 $258,705 $290,070
10/31/94 $261,345 $296,564
11/30/94 $250,894 $285,774
12/31/94 $247,605 $290,003
01/31/95 $256,372 $297,518
02/28/95 $267,174 $309,099
03/31/95 $269,567 $318,204
04/30/95 $275,103 $327,567
05/31/95 $287,640 $340,629
06/30/95 $299,759 $348,534
07/31/95 $311,099 $360,085
08/31/95 $324,474 $360,984
09/30/95 $330,818 $376,208
10/31/95 $325,312 $374,864
11/30/95 $339,824 $391,301
12/31/95 $343,324 $398,837
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<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
Average Annual Total Returns
1 year 5 years 10 years
------ ------- --------
<S> <C> <C> <C>
Partners Value Fund (and Predecessor Partnership) 38.7% 18.0% 13.1%
S&P 500 37.5% 16.5% 14.8%
</TABLE>
Total return for the Fund in 1995 was +38.7% vs. +37.5% for the S&P 500.
The Investment Adviser's investment strategy is to buy stocks of well-managed,
understandable, good businesses that are selling at significant discounts to the
Investment Adviser's appraisal of their enterprise values. This
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conservative, value-oriented approach often leads to under-performance (relative
to the S&P 500) in very strong markets, as the Fund's price-sensitivity leads
the Fund to sell early and to hold cash reserves rather than pay inflated prices
for stocks.
The stocks which contributed the most to the Fund's returns in 1995 were
banks and other financial service companies. These companies generally enjoyed
good operating conditions in 1995, and their stock prices also benefited from
merger activity among financial institutions and the fact that most financial
stocks entered 1995 at depressed levels because of 1994's less favorable
conditions.
TOTAL RETURNS ARE BASED UPON PAST RESULTS AND ARE NOT A PREDICTION OF
FUTURE PERFORMANCE.
