Berkshire to pay $896,000 for failing to report investment

OMAHA, Neb. -- Warren Buffett's company has agreed to an $896,000 penalty for failing to tell regulators about a December 2013 investment in wallboard maker USG Corp. beforehand.

The Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday that Berkshire Hathaway Inc. should have notified the Justice Department before it converted $325 million of senior USG notes it held into 21.4 million shares of the company.

Because Berkshire was already a significant USG shareholder, antitrust laws required it to notify regulators because of the size of the deal. At the end of June, Berkshire held just more than 39 million USG shares.

Berkshire did correct its initial filing after the USG investment and clarified that it should have notified officials. But regulators said Berkshire made a similar mistake six months earlier when it acquired securities in Symetra Financial Corp.

"Although we may not seek penalties for every inadvertent error, we will enforce the rules when the same party makes additional mistakes after promises of improved oversight," said Deborah Feinstein, director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition.

Buffett issued a statement Wednesday afternoon and described the matter as a simple mistake. He said Berkshire had owned the convertible USG notes since 2008 and was essentially forced to convert them into stock when USG redeemed them in 2013.

"This event triggered a filing requirement for Berkshire and we were late in realizing that fact," Buffett said.

Business on 08/21/2014

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