-->aus der New York Times

by Bloomberg News

Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the investment company controlled by Warren E. Buffett, increased its bet against the United States dollar by about 64 percent, to $18 billion in the first quarter.

Five weeks into the second quarter, Mr. Buffett had lost $600 million on the investment, according to a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Berkshire began 2004 with about $11 billion of forward contracts in foreign currencies and added another $7 billion through March 31, the company said. A widening United States trade deficit prompted Mr. Buffett to begin buying foreign currencies in 2002.

Berkshire's $600 million of currency losses from March 31 to May 5 may result in a $390 million second-quarter expense after tax if the dollar's value remains unchanged from May 5 levels, Berkshire said in the filing.

The dollar strengthened about 2 percent in the five-week period against a basket of six currencies, including the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen.

Shares of Berkshire, which is based in Omaha, fell 4.8 percent yesterday after the company said Friday that first-quarter profit had fallen 10 percent from fewer investment gains from bonds as well as lower profit and sales in reinsurance units.

Mr. Buffett's currency purchases have produced more investment gains than losses for Berkshire since he started them. Berkshire had $156 million of foreign currency gains in the first quarter, on top of $729 million of gains in 2003 and 2002 combined, according to company reports.

"We think, over time, that the dollar is likely to decline in value against some of the major currencies,'' Mr. Buffett said at Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting earlier this month."This is not a short term prediction.''

-->Realized Investment Gains (Continued)

After-tax realized gains also included $156 million in 2004 and $68 million in 2003 from increases in fair value of foreign currency forward contracts. The gains were due to the decline in the value of the U.S. dollar against certain foreign currencies. As of May 5, 2004, the fair value of open foreign currency forward contracts declined by approximately $600 million ($390 million after-tax) due to the increase in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies. If the fair value as of May 5 remains unchanged, the decline in fair value will be charged against earnings in the second quarter of 2004. Changes in foreign currency exchange rates may produce material changes in the fair value of these contracts and consequently, may produce exceptional volatility in reported earnings in a given period.


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