NEW YORK — The board of Berkshire Hathaway has four candidates capable of replacing the company’s longtime chairman, Warren Buffett, if he is no longer able to do the job.
The company had previously said the board had three candidates in mind. But Berkshire’s latest filing with securities regulators states in the company’s “Risk Factors” section that there are “four current Berkshire subsidiary managers who are capable of being CEO.” As in the past, the company stated that the board has a single successor in mind “should a replacement be needed currently.”
The company has never named the potential successors, but speculation about who will replace Buffett, 80, is a favorite pastime of Buffett-watchers. The names:
• David Sokol, chief executive of the company’s NetJets unit and the chairman of its utility operations; considered the leading candidate. Buffett wrote in his letter to shareholders Saturday that he “can’t overstate the breadth and importance” of achievements by Sokol.
• Ajit Jain, head of Berkshire’s reinsurance business. Jain “has added a great many billions of dollars to the value of Berkshire. Even kryptonite bounces off Ajit,” Buffett wrote in his letter.
• Matt Rose, head of Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the railroad acquired last year by Berkshire. He is among the Berkshire operating-unit CEOs that Buffett refers to collectively as “the All-Stars.”
• Todd Combs, a manager of a portion of Berkshire’s investment portfolio.
