Buffett says Moody's to be around a long time

MADRID (Reuters) - Investor Warren Buffett said on Wednesday that credit ratings group Moody's Corp (MCO.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), in which his investment company Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) owns some 20 percent, would be around a long time.

Moody's Investors Service, already under fire over the U.S. mortgage market crisis, took a fresh blow on Wednesday as it launched an investigation into a report that it had wrongly assigned triple-A ratings to complex European debt products and had then not downgraded them.

"I don't think one day will permanently change the franchise value of Moody's," Buffet, the world's richest person, said at a news conference in Madrid.

Years of shrewd investing is estimated to have earned Buffett a $62 billion fortune according to Forbes magazine and the nickname "the sage of Omaha".

(Reporting by Ben Harding; Writing by Martin Roberts; Editing by Greg Mahlich)