Reuters reports Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) underestimated the risks of falling stock prices to its billions of dollars of derivatives bets, yet still believes it is valuing the contracts fairly.
Berkshire revealed its error in a June 26 letter to the SEC, one of several pieces of correspondence with the regulator about the company's annual report, and made public on Thursday. It also agreed to SEC demands for more explanation on $1.8 billion of writedowns on stock investments, and $2.7 billion of auction-rate and other municipal debt holdings. On June 29, the SEC said it completed its review without further comment.
The correspondence shows Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire, which has close to 80 businesses and ended June with more than $136 billion of stocks, bonds and cash, is struggling to comply with SEC requirements to disclose enough about its finances. This issue had surfaced in June 2008, when the regulator demanded "a more robust disclosure" of how the insurance and investment company values its derivatives.
Buffett did provide some additional disclosure, in what he called "excruciating detail," in his annual shareholder letter in February. Berkshire, through Buffett's assistant Carrie Kizer, had no immediate comment.
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