Berkshire Unit Gets Triple A (Wall Street Journal, subscription req'd), April 14, 2008

Standard & Poor's assigned a triple-A rating to Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s municipal bond insurance unit, putting it in contrast to the ratings deterioration of other bond insurers in recent months.

"The rating of [Berkshire Hathaway Assurance Corp.] is based on its extremely strong competitive position, insurance and reinsurance capitalization, and financial flexibility," S&P wrote. Berkshire Chairman Warren Buffett in December announced the launch of Berkshire Hathaway Assurance, or BHAC, a new insurer that guarantees municipal bonds.

Brandon Steps Down as Chief of Berkshire's General Re (Update5)

By Josh P. Hamilton, Bloomberg.com, April 15, 2008

:S:d1" onmouseover="return escape( popwSearchNews( this ))">Joseph Brandon, once a top candidate to succeed :S:d1" onmouseover="return escape( popwSearchNews( this ))">Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway Inc., resigned under pressure as chief executive officer of the company's General Re Corp. after a jury convicted former executives.

Prosecutors named Brandon as an unindicted co-conspirator at a trial where four former General Re officers, including ex-CEO :S:d1" onmouseover="return escape( popwSearchNews( this ))">Ronald Ferguson, were convicted Feb. 25 of helping American International Group Inc. deceive investors through a sham transaction in 2000. Brandon will be replaced as CEO by General Re President :S:d1" onmouseover="return escape( popwSearchNews( this ))">Franklin Montross, Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire said today in a statement.

Brandon had been on a short list of senior Berkshire managers considered by investors and analysts as leading contenders to eventually replace Buffett, 77, as CEO at the $200 billion investment and holding company he built during four decades. Buffett said in 2006 that the board had picked from three "reasonably young'' internal candidates. Brandon, 49, was a senior General Re executive at the time of the reinsurance transaction that led to the convictions.

"The pressure from the Securities and Exchange Commission and federal prosecutors was just too intense for them to keep him in his role,'' said :S:d1" onmouseover="return escape( popwSearchNews( this ))">Charles Hamilton, an analyst at FTN Midwest Securities Corp. in Nashville, Tennessee.