Berkshire closed its purchase of $3 billion of Dow Chemical preferred stock in April 2009, when the market had collapsed.

Factual claim judged as of February 2017. True: Berkshire's or Dow's filings or announcements show the purchase of $3 billion of Dow Chemical preferred stock (tied to the Rohm and Haas deal) closed in April 2009, after the market had fallen steeply (the S&P 500 hit its low in March 2009). Mostly true: the closing was in early April 2009 or at the very end of March, or the amount was slightly different. Mixed: the deal and amount were right but the closing date was clearly a different month in 2009. Mostly false: the closing was well outside spring 2009, or the market description is clearly wrong. False: there was no such purchase, or it closed in a different year.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 brka-20090930.xml Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (Q3 2009 quarterly report, Note 7) · 6 November 2009 Own record

   “On April 1, 2009, Berkshire acquired 3,000,000 shares of Series A Cumulative Convertible Perpetual Preferred Stock of Dow (“Dow Preferred”) for a cost of $3 billion.”

2. E2 Berkshire Hathaway Inc. 2009 Annual Report Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (SEC Exhibit 99.1) Own record

   “On April 1, 2009, we acquired 3,000,000 shares of Series A Cumulative Convertible Perpetual Preferred Stock of Dow (“Dow Preferred”) for a cost of $3 billion.”

3. E3 Dow Chemical Completes Rohm and Haas Acquisition RTTNews · 1 April 2009

   “Wednesday, Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) said it completed the acquisition of Rohm and Haas (ROH), creating a $14.0 billion diversified business portfolio”

4. E4 Dow Agrees to Close Rohm and Haas Acquisition PCI Magazine (Dow press release reprint) · 10 March 2009

   “The Dow Chemical Co. has reached agreements with Rohm and Haas and certain of its shareholders that permit Dow to close the acquisition on substantially altered financial terms by April 1, 2009.”

Berkshire's Q3 2009 quarterly report [E1] and its 2009 annual report filed with the SEC [E2] both say that on April 1, 2009 Berkshire bought 3,000,000 shares of Dow Series A Cumulative Convertible Perpetual Preferred Stock for $3 billion. Independent reports back up the timing: RTTNews, dated April 1, 2009, reported that Dow had completed the Rohm and Haas acquisition [E3], and a Dow release reprinted earlier said the deal would close by April 1, 2009 on substantially altered terms [E4]. The closing month and the amount match the claim. The evidence does not show the market's fall directly, so that part rests on the resolution criteria's own note that the market bottomed in March 2009.