Tuesday's Top Stories in 2 Minutes

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Here at the Fool, we've searched high and low across the Web this Tuesday morning to find the biggest news and best stories around. Here are your top five morning reads.

1. Buffett Choo-Choo-Choose's Burlington Northern Santa Fe
In what would be Buffett's largest acquisition ever, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) has agreed to pay a 31% premium to acquire the 77% of Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE: BNI) that Berkshire doesn't already own. (Read more at MarketWatch.)

2. Companies secure a cash hoard
The Wall Street Journal has a report on the increasing level of cash that companies are keeping. While the trend of increasing cash to assets has been rising since the early 90's, there's been a sharp increase as companies have looked to conserve more cash during the crisis. The credit markets freeze and companies race for cash, shocking. (Read more at The Wall Street Journal.)

3. Johnson & Johnson brings out the bone saw
In an effort to further cut costs, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) will lay off six to seven percent of its workforce. Considering the size of its workforce at the end of last year, the workforce cuts could lead to about 8,000 employees losing their jobs. (Read more at Bloomberg)

4. Earnings roundup
Some notable earnings from last night and this morning:

• Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM) saw results stronger than earlier this year, but still faces steep year-over-year declines. (Read more at Yahoo! Finance)
• Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) saw profits and revenue plunge from last year due to declining natural gas prices. Despite revenue falling nearly 76% from last year, the company still managed to eke out a small profit. (Read more at MarketWatch)
• UBS was hit by several large charges and posted a loss for the quarter. The company warned of continued weakness in its valuable private banking arm. (Read more at The Wall Street Journal.)

5. Can Citigroup carry on after the crisis?
The New York Times notes that the government has saved institutions known as Citigroup (NYSE: C) four times in the past 80 years, and wonders whether the company can come back once again. (Read more at The New York Times.)

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