DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Matthew Rose, chief executive of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (BNI), told Fox Business Tuesday that Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s (BRKA, BRKB) purchase of the railroad fits into Warren Buffett's "long-term view of how he runs his businesses." The deal took about 10 days to work out, Rose said, from Buffett's offer to BN's board meeting Monday night. Buffett "knows exactly what he wants and he's pretty fair," Rose said.
Rose said he received no guarantees that Buffett wouldn't change BN's management team, but that Buffett's record indicates he'll keep the team in place.
Rose also warned that any move by Congress to tighten regulation of the railroads, which were largely deregulated in the 1980s, would cause the companies to cut back on capital investments. He rejected the idea that railroads aren't fully depreciating their equipment, pointing out that locomotives and freight cars have a long service life.
Web site: www.foxbusiness.com
-Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2900
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 03, 2009 14:47 ET (19:47 GMT)