Thread

Warren Buffett Steps Down as Berkshire Chairman, Names Son to Replace Him

323 points · 221 comments · saimiam

keiferski · 1789732619 · focus · HN ↗
Buffett has been planning this since at least 2011:
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Warren Buffett has told the CBS News program "60 Minutes" that after he dies, he wants his son to become non-executive chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. Howard Buffett, a farmer with no college degree, would be a good successor, the elder Buffett said, because he understands the values of the company.
<a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/warren-buffett-wants-farmer-son-to-succeed-him-2011-12-09" rel="nofollow">http://www.marketwatch.com/story/warren-buffett-wants-farmer...
1. tzs · 1789779066 · focus · HN ↗
  Describing him just as a "a farmer" seems kind of ridiculous. Here has extensive business experience unrelated to his farm. From the Wikipedia page on him [1]:
  > Buffett was Corporate Vice President and Assistant to the Chairman of Archer Daniels Midland Company from 1992 to 1995, Director of Archer Daniels Midland Company from 1991 to 1995, Director of the Board of Directors of The GSI Group from 1995 to 2001, director of ConAgra Foods from 2002 to 2006, director of Agro Tech Foods Ltd. until October 26, 2006, and director at Sloan Implement. He became a Lindsay Corporation director in 1995, and served as chairman from 2002 to 2003. and in 2008, announced he would let his term as a director expire in January 2010.
  > He is, as of 1992, a director of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., and President of Buffett Farms.
  > Howard G. Buffett has been a Director of The Coca-Cola Company since December 9, 2010. From 1993 to 2004 he was a director of Coca-Cola Enterprises, the world's largest Coca-Cola bottler.
  [1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Graham_Buffett" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Graham_Buffett
  1. throwaway2037 · 1789807181 · focus · HN ↗
    > Describing him just as a "a farmer" seems kind of ridiculous.
    Not at all. From a New York Times article [1]:
    > In 1986, he began running a 400-acre farm north of Omaha that his father purchased for him. > Howard now manages a 1,500-acre farm in central Illinois that is owned by his family, and still operates the 400-acre farm in Nebraska.
    1,900 acres is a lot of farm!
    What surprises me more? He is a board member since 1993, but doesn't have a university degree. I am surprised that they did not send him to an executive MBA programme.
    From that same NYT article:
    > Mr. Buffett, who goes by “Howie,” attended three colleges in the 1970s, Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill.; Chapman College in Orange, Calif.; and the University of California at Irvine. He did not graduate from any of them.
    [1] <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/business/warren-buffett-son-howard-berkshire-hathaway.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/business/warren-buffett-s...

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