Warren Buffett Comments on USG

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Aug 21, 2014

OMAHA, NE—“As has been reported today, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, Financial)(BRK.B, Financial) consented to a Final Judgment whereby we agreed to pay a civil penalty of $896,000 for failure to comply with the premerger reporting and waiting requirements of the Hart-Scott Rodino Act. We made a mistake when we overlooked the filing requirement. Berkshire had owned convertible notes of USG (USG, Financial) since 2008 and was effectively forced to convert the notes when they were called for redemption by USG in December 2013. This event triggered a filing requirement for Berkshire and we were late in realizing that fact.”

Berkshire Hathaway and its subsidiaries engage in diverse business activities including property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, utilities and energy, freight rail transportation, finance, manufacturing, retailing and services. Common stock of the company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, trading symbols BRK.A and BRK.B.