{"id":314041,"date":"2010-02-12T23:44:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-13T04:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087194156628161158.post-6105366633493298047"},"modified":"2010-02-12T23:49:14","modified_gmt":"2010-02-13T04:49:14","slug":"cnbc-burlington-northern-officially-joins-the-warren-buffett-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/314041","title":{"rendered":"CNBC: Burlington Northern Officially Joins the Warren Buffett Family"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Published: Friday, 12 Feb 2010 | 2:54 PM ET <\/span><\/div>\n
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By: Alex Crippen
Executive Producer<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/span>Warren Buffett’s $26 billion “bet on America<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/b>” is now official.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Berkshire Hathaway has just issued a news release<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong><\/b>announcing the “closing of the merger of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (‘BNSF’) with and into a subsidiary of Berkshire.”<\/p>\n

<\/span>As a subsidiary, Burlington shares will no longer be publicly traded.<\/p>\n

<\/span>BNSF shareholders approved Berkshire’s acquisition of the railroad<\/strong><\/strong><\/b><\/a> at a special meeting held yesterday (Thursday.)<\/p>\n

<\/span>Burlington Northern shareholders were given the choice of being paid for their shares in cash, Berkshire stock, or a combination of the two.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Final results of those elections:<\/p>\n

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Cash<\/td>\n40.85%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stock<\/td>\n43.36%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
No Election <\/td>\n15.79%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/span>The release says BNSF shareholders choosing cash or failing to make an election will get $100\/share cash. Those choosing stock will get 92.25% of their $100\/share in Berkshire stock and the remainder in cash.<\/p>\n

<\/span>In total, Berkshire will pay about $15.87 billion in cash and issue approximately 80,932 shares of Class A stock, along with approximately 21 million shares of Class B.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Next stop for the Berkshire Bs will be their addition to the widely followed benchmark S&P 500<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/b> stock index, replacing Burlington Northern.<\/p>\n

<\/span>That happens after tonight’s closing bell at 4p ET, giving the many investors in S&P index funds a piece of Warren Buffett and Berkshire.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Current Berkshire stock prices:<\/p>\n

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<\/span>Class A: