BUSINESS BRIEFING / CONGLOMERATES
TIMES WIRE REPORTS
Billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. had its top-level Aaa credit rating cut by Moody’s Investors Service on the falling value of stock markets and the effect of the recession on profit.
The rating was cut two levels to Aa2 on “the severe decline in equity markets over the past year as well as the protracted economic recession,” Bruce Ballentine, a Moody’s analyst, said in a statement.
The downgrade trumps a one-level cut by rival firm Fitch Ratings last month, and follows an announcement by Standard & Poor’s that it was reviewing Berkshire’s credit.
