Buffett’s Berkshire Cuts Moody’s Stake Third Time in 3 Months

Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the biggest shareholder in Coca-Cola Co. and Wells Fargo & Co., reduced its stake in credit-rating company Moody’s Corp. by 2.9 percent, the third cut in just over three months.

Berkshire sold 1.15 million shares and remains Moody’s biggest stockholder with 38.07 million, according to a regulatory filing yesterday. The stake sold for about $28.7 million, Berkshire said. The Omaha, Nebraska-based firm cut its Moody’s holding by 17 percent in July and 2 percent last month.

Moody’s, whose founder John Moody created credit ratings in 1909, is suffering from reduced demand for debt analysis after the economic decline curbed fixed-income issuance. The firm and rival Standard & Poor’s have been criticized by regulators and lawmakers for not foreseeing the wave in homeowner defaults that brought down the value of securities once awarded gold-standard AAA credit grades.

Moody’s fell 59 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $23.68 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. It has slipped 20 percent in the past six months, trailing the 19 percent gain in the S&P 500 Index. Berkshire declined $1,180 to $99,000 and has gained 5.3 percent in six months.

Buffett didn’t respond to a request for comment e-mailed to his assistant, Carrie Kizer, after normal business hours.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Frye in New York at afrye@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Kraut at dkraut2@bloomberg.net.