Warren Buffett: The Shares Stop Here

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TheStreet.com

January 28, 2010 Thursday 17:13 PM EST

SECTION: NEWS & ANALYSIS; Financial Services

LENGTH: 333 words

HEADLINE: Warren Buffett: The Shares Stop Here

BYLINE: Eric Rosenbaum, TheStreet.com Staff Reporter.

Copyright 2009 TheStreet.com Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

(Berkshire Hathaway story updated for closing price and volume.)

OMAHA, Neb. (TheStreet) — Berkshire Hathaway(BRK.B:NYSE) shares have been trading like wildfire in the past few days, and on Thursday afternoon Warren Buffett sent a message to the market that could increase trading: get ’em while you can; no additional shares are coming.

Berkshire Hathaway said on Thursday that it will not be issuing additional shares of its common stock, in what is often referred to as an “index add” issuance.

On Tuesday, Standard & Poor’s announced it was adding Berkshire Hathaway to the S&P 100 and S&P 500 indices — a move long anticipated ever since Berkshire announced its decision to split its B shares 50-to-1.

Since the S&P announcement, Berkshire has seen high levels of trading — on Wednesday the trading in Berkshire Hathaway neared the 20 million share mark.

Berkshire’s statement on Thursday was in response to inquiries it has received as a result of the S&P decision.

The Warren Buffett-led company wrote: “Berkshire does not intend to issue any additional shares of its common stock other than the common stock it will issue upon the completion of the previously announced acquisition of BNSF [Burlington Northern Santa Fe(BNI:NYSE)].

On Thursday, Berkshire Hathaway shares are again trading up, even though most of the sectors of the U.S. economy it represents are down.

The fact that Berkshire Hathaway will not increase its share pool could contribute to the feeding frenzy. More than 14 million Berkshire Hathaway shares had been traded by the close on Thursday, and the Warren Buffett investment company stock was up around 3.6%, while all the major market indexes were down on Thursday.

— Written by Eric Rosenbaum in New York

RELATED STORIES:>>Berkshire Buying Defies Market Pessimism>>Berkshire Hathaway: Best in Class>>Berkshire Hathaway Nears 20 Million Shares>>Buffett Revises B Share Discount Trigger

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