Buffett’s Burlington Northern Deal Is Focus of U.S. Hearing
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Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s 2010 acquisition of Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the second-largest U.S. railroad by revenue, will be the subject of a hearing on railroad shippers’ concerns that they will be asked to cover the deal’s costs.
Burlington Northern has asked the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to include the amount of money that Berkshire Hathaway paid over book value for the railroad when calculating the minimum freight rate that shippers can contest. Including the $8.1 billion premium would raise the minimum rate that the board would consider unreasonable for the railroad’s customers to pay.