Berkshire Hathaway spurns stock-split plan

Chief Financial Officer Marc Hamburg wrote in a Dec. 21 letter to the SEC that Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire planned to omit the proposed shareholder vote from annual proxy materials, according to documents posted by the agency Saturday.

The SEC’s staff said the company was within its rights to reject the request in a Jan. 22 letter. By specifying a ratio for the split the proposal “relates to a specific amount of stock dividends,” and can be excluded, the SEC wrote.

“Splitting of the Class A shares will increase shareholder liquidity and value for present shareholders,” Robert Zelin wrote in a November letter to Berkshire on behalf of himself and three others calling themselves members of the Western New York Model Club, in Clarence Center, New York. “They may redeem a smaller portion of their investment and still be part of this great company.”

Zelin proposed a vote to split the shares to lower the price to between US$10,000 and US$30,000.

The club members hold Class B shares, which trade for 1/30th the price of the Class A shares, yet confer 1/200th of the voting rights, and want the opportunity to own the more expensive A shares, Zelin wrote. The B shares would be split proportionally.

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