Omaha: Billionaire Warren Buffett gave Saturday a clue on who might succeed him to run his Berkshire Hathaway empire, but did not completely reveal his hand.
The world’s third-richest man also said at his company’s annual shareholder meeting that its recent investment in Amazon was not a shift in strategy to focus on Silicon Valley firms, which have largely remained missing from Berkshire’s voluminous portfolio.
Buffett, 88, was pressed by questions – each greeted with a torrent of applause – about who would succeed him.
Without answering directly, Buffett said Gregory Able, 57, and Ajit Jain, 67 – both promoted last year to the board of directors – would in the near future join him and long-time business partner Charlie Munger, 95, on the stage to answer shareholder questions.
“You could not have two better operating managers than Greg and Ajit. It’s just fantastic what they’ve accomplished,” said Buffett, who is known as the ‘Oracle of Omaha’. For decades, Buffett and Munger have been the two stars of Berkshire Hathaway, but Saturday, Jain answered a shareholder question, though he did so from the floor.
Abel joined the company in 1992 in the energy division, and for more than a year has overseen all non-insurance activities, while Jain came on board in 1986 in the insurance division, which he currently leads.
But who will prevail, or could they jointly take the helm? “One of the reasons we have trouble with these questions is because Berkshire is so very peculiar. We have a different, kind of ‘unbureaucratic’ way of making decisions,” stated Munger. “But I don’t want to be like everybody else because this has worked better. So I think you’re going to have to endure us,” added Munger.
Buffett’s departure is likely to open a new era at the company, especially with shares of Berkshire considered to be 10 to 15 per cent above their real value thanks to the billionaire’s presence at the helm.
Buffett and Munger also faced an onslaught of questions about strategy for investing in technology companies after Berkshire revealed a stake in Amazon. The former said Amazon chief Jeff Bezos has pulled off ‘close to a miracle’ by transforming an online bookseller into the e-commerce giant it is today.
Munger also acknowledged that he and Buffett felt ‘ashamed’ for missing the boat on Google. “”We just sat there sucking our thumbs,” he said. “We screwed up.”
Buffett, who is worth almost USD 90 billion, still lives in a relatively modest house about 10 minutes outside downtown Omaha that he bought in 1958.
