On Berkshire: Loses AAA, Buffett Salary & No AIG (BRK-A, AIG)

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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buffett-image1There has been quite a lot of news on Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) and Warren Buffett in the last 12 hours.  Bond and credit ratings agency Fitch downgraded the conglomerate.  Buffett also outlined how he refused to invest in or rescue American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG).

Fitch downgraded Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) Issue Default Rating to ‘AA+’ from the top AAA; and senior unsecured debt ratings to “AA” from “AAA.”  Fitch did reaffirm Berkshire’s Insurer Financial Strength at “AAA” at its insurance units and subsidiaries. The rating outlook for all entities is now “Negative” as the ratings agency cited concerns over the loss potential on insurance equity and derivatives.

It also looks like the Oracle of Omaha took a $100,000 salary.  When you come in at #2 in the world’s billionaires list on Forbes, who needs a salary?

Buffett also told Bloomberg in another interview that he also was given the opportunity twice to invest in (rescue) American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) but he refused.  He merely noted that the insurer needed more than what he could provide.

On top of Buffett defending and explaining many of his positions early this week in a long CNBC interview, it has been a pretty active week at the insurance giant and conglomerate.

Jon C. Ogg

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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