Berkshire Hathaway took a major stake in MidAmerican on March 14, 2000, with a $1.24 billion investment in common stock and a nondividend-paying convertible preferred stock This investment gave Berkshire about a 9.7% voting interest and a 76% economic interest in MidAmerican. "Though there are many regulatory constraints in the utility industry, it's possible that we will make additional commitments in the field," Buffett said, at the time. "If we do, the amounts could be large." Subsequently, in March 2002, Berkshire acquired another 6.7 million shares of MidAmerican's convertible stock for $402 million, giving Berkshire a 9.9% voting interest and an 83.7% economic interest in the equity of MidAmerican [80.5% on a diluted basis].