Dow Chemical may have expanded its stock buyback program and dividend, but it showed little inclination to make further concessions to activist investors like Daniel S. Loeb.
And according to the chemical maker’s chief executive, Andrew Liveris, that suits one major shareholder just fine.
Mr. Liveris told CNBC on Wednesday morning that he heard the following words from none other than Warren E. Buffett: “Frankly, we think you’ve been running the company for the investors who will stay versus the investors who will leave. And frankly, keep doing that.â€
Mr. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has ties to Dow through the $3 billion worth of convertible preferred shares that it issued to the chemical maker in 2008 to help it buy Rohm & Haas.
Mr. Liveris also believes that the company has already done one of the things that Mr. Loeb had asked for:
“It is almost impossible to think of Dow as a petrochemical company anymore,†Mr. Liveris said. “We’ve actually done the divestment of what might be called the traditional petchem business.â€
