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United States of America, Plaintiff, v. Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Defendant
FTC Matter/File Number
141 0095
Civil Action Number
1:14-cv-01420
Enforcement Type
Civil Penalty (7a)
Federal Court
District of Columbia

Case Summary

According to the FTC’s complaint, Berkshire Hathaway changed convertible notes it owned in USG into 21.4 million voting securities on December 9, 2013. As a result of the conversion, the value of its USG holdings exceeded $283.6 million, the premerger reporting threshold under the HSR Act at the time. The company subsequently made a corrective filing, and acknowledged that the transaction should have been reported under the HSR Act. The final judgment settling the complaint requires Berkshire Hathaway to pay a civil penalty of $896,000, based on the time it was in violation of the HSR Act, from December 9, 2013 when it acquired the shares via the conversion through February 3, 2014, the end of the waiting period for the corrective filing.