Boston, MA 08/22/2214 (wallstreetpr) –The U.S. based holding company Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B)‘s Chairman and Chief Executive officer has settled with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to pay $896,000 on HSR Act violation.
CEO agreed to pay a penalty:
The CEO, Warren Buffett has made his mind pay the penalty amount of $896,000 in order to resolve the claims affirmed by FTC and DOJ. The Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B) did not comply with the reporting requirements as revealed by the claim. It states that the company reportedly infringed the “reporting necessities” of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act (HSR Act) as it did not report the buyout of an added stock of USG Corporation as part of convertible notes’ exchange in December, 2013.
Second time for Berkshire:
According to the complaint, the actual violation was initiated in December 2008 when Berkshire converted the equity notes that the company purchased from USG. The Justice Department of the U.S. affirmed that the company disregarded the rules of governing the acquisition of voting securities or assets. Moreover, this was the second time, the company missed to report such huge purchase on time.
CEO says:
However, the CEO, Buffett, acknowledged that it was a mistake from the company’s side to overlook the filing requirements. The FTC and DOJ confirmed that HSR Act says that the company needs to inform of the transaction of such massive amount. The tie-up between Berkshire and USG took place in 2006, when 19% of the share was owned by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B).
The incident:
In 2008, the U.S. economy slashed and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B) in order to stay alive extended its lifelines to many companies, which were later paid through dividends. Berkshire also invested $300 million in USG exchangeable notes of 10% interest. While in December 2013, when USG asked to redeem those notes, Berkshire converted those notes into equity that holds 28% of the stake. The deal made Berkshire the major shareholder of USG. On reply to this, the CEO of Berkshire stated that they were forced to do so. The action of Berkshire led to a violation of law, which they realized in January. A penalty of daily $16,000 for 56 days amounted to $896,000, which the company needs to pay.
