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BNSF shareholders OK Berkshire acquisition

February 11, 2010
Mark B. Solomon
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Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. shareholders today voted to approve Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s $100 a share, $44 billion acquisition of the BNSF, setting the stage for the Western railroad to move into private ownership.

BNSF said shareholders overwhelmingly approved the deal in a meeting held today in Fort Worth, Texas. The deal is set to close Feb. 12.

"Tomorrow begins the first century of ownership of BNSF by Berkshire Hathaway. I'm looking forward to every day of it as our railroad does its part to ensure the future prosperity of the country," said Warren E. Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway's chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement.

Berkshire Hathaway made the offer on Nov. 3, accompanied by Buffett's now-famous declaration that it represented an "all-in bet" on the future of the U.S. economy.

"We are at an important milestone in our 160-year history," said Matthew K. Rose, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of BNSF, in the statement. "This is a vote of confidence in BNSF and the future of freight rail, and it demonstrates how well our business model is aligned with our new parent company."

Transportation Rail
KEYWORDS Burlington Northern Santa Fe
    Marksolomon
    Mark Solomon joined DC VELOCITY as senior editor in August 2008, and was promoted to his current position on January 1, 2015. He has spent more than 30 years in the transportation, logistics and supply chain management fields as a journalist and public relations professional. From 1989 to 1994, he worked in Washington as a reporter for the Journal of Commerce, covering the aviation and trucking industries, the Department of Transportation, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that, he worked for Traffic World for seven years in a similar role. From 1994 to 2008, Mr. Solomon ran Media-Based Solutions, a public relations firm based in Atlanta. He graduated in 1978 with a B.A. in journalism from The American University in Washington, D.C.

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