NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's CreditWire) May 25, 2001--Standard&Poor's today assigned its triple-'A' senior debt rating to Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s (Berkshire Hathaway) $700 million debt securities shelf offering. The rating is based on Berkshire Hathaway's extremely strong capital adequacy, focused strategy, and appropriate financial leverage. Partially offsetting these strengths is the company's active investment management strategy and potential for large earnings volatility. Based on first-quarter 2001 results, Berkshire Hathaway's financial leverage (debt to total capital) is 6.4% when adjusted for the debt securities issuance. This issuance assumes the eventual repayment of $600 million of short-term commercial paper obligations of Executive Jet Inc. and $100 million on notes held by Scott Fetzer Financial Group Inc. Corresponding pro forma interest
