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Non-Tech : Berkshire Hathaway Class B -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Al Chechatka who wrote (1329)	2/10/2000 1:02:00 PM
From: Henrik	Respond to of 1652

Buffett Friends Say His Health Is Fine omaha.com Published Wednesday February 09, 2000 Buffett Friends Say His Health Is Fine Rumors that Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chairman Warren Buffett is seriously ill are completely false, according to close friends of the Omaha investment guru, but the erroneous reports apparently took a bite out of the company's stock price. And according to one observer, the stock swoon may have been just what the rumor's creator had in mind. Rumors about Buffett's health spread Tuesday on Internet message boards for Berkshire, where investors converse about the company. One report said that Buffett had been admitted to an Omaha hospital in serious condition. Buffett's secretary, Debbie Bosanek, said Wednesday morning that Berkshire Hathaway does not comment on rumors. The 69-year-old Buffett could not be reached for comment, but two of his close friends, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the billionaire was in good health. One of the friends, who also is a Berkshire stockholder, said he spoke to Buffett on Tuesday night to confirm that the reports were false. Berkshire's stock, however, is under the weather. The price of the conglomerate's class A stock dropped $1,050 in trading Tuesday, clos ing at $50,450, and dropped as low as $49,300 on Wednesday morning. It marked the first time since January 1998 that the stock had traded below $50,000 - and was a huge comedown from its spring 1999 high of more than $80,000. The company's stock price is down about 12 percent so far this year after shedding nearly 20 percent of its market value in 1999. The latest drop in Berkshire's stock price may have been precipitated by someone trying to manipulate the market, said Omaha stockbroker George Morgan, a vice president with Kirkpatrick Pettis Investments and a long-time Buffett watcher. He said investors can use Internet message boards to spread negative news about a company, then profit by selling short - that is, selling at the current market price a stock he hasn't yet bought, speculating that it will drop in price by the time he has to pay for it and settle up. "The market is very, very susceptible to rumors with the advent of the Internet," Morgan said. "People who know absolutely nothing can spread to the whole world their ill knowledge." If Buffett were, in fact, seriously ill, Morgan added, Berkshire Hathaway would be obligated to disclose his health problem. Besides, he said, Buffett's health shouldn't have a big impact on the stock's value. "Berkshire Hathaway is not going to be any different company than if he was at the helm," he said. Berkshire is now primarily made up of a group of operating companies that are run independently by their managers, Morgan said. Contrary to public perception, it is not a big mutual fund driven by the public-company equities that Buffett chooses to buy. "Those who don't understand the company are selling the stock," he said. Staff writers Robert Dorr and Steve Jordon contributed to this report.