S&P cuts Berkshire Hahaway's rating, but barely.

S&P cuts Berkshire Hathaway rating by one notch to 'AA' - Yahoo! Finance:


"The lower credit rating on BRK better reflects our view of BRK's dependence on its core insurance operations for most of its dividend income," said Standard &Poor's credit analyst John Iten."
How to bond rating agencies work? Here are a few good links:

From Wikipedia:  (they have really cool tables showing defaults by

SEC Speech: Harnessing Tomorrow’s Technology for Today’s Investors and Markets, by Chairman Elisse Walter, on February 19, 2013

High Frequency trading has been in the news (and in class) quite a bit lately.  While high frequency trading seems to have peaked, it is still in the news (For example Warren Buffett sort of talked about it, regulators in the US and Germany are looking into it).   So a short "lesson"

So from Wikipedia:

"High-frequency trading (HFT) is the use of sophisticated technological tools and computer

Heinz CEO Johnson Would Get $200 Million in Post-Berkshire Exit - Yahoo! Finance

Heinz CEO Johnson Would Get $200 Million in Post-Berkshire Exit - Yahoo! Finance:


"H.J. Heinz Co. (HNZ) Chief Executive Officer Bill Johnson could receive more than $200 million should he exit after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) and Jorge Paulo Lemann's 3G Capital Inc. buy the ketchup maker.

Johnson, 64, would get "Golden Parachute Compensation" including $56 million in

SEC sues over Heinz option trading before buyout - Yahoo! Finance

SEC sues over Heinz option trading before buyout - Yahoo! Finance:

"The suit, in federal court in Manhattan, cites "highly suspicious trading" in Heinz call options just prior to the February 14 announcement of the deal. The regulator has frequently in past filed suit against unnamed individuals where it has evidence of wrongdoing, but is still trying to uncover the identities of those involved