He's there to maintain the very unique culture of the company. I think it's sort of like if they have his son there he of all people should know Buffett's/Berkshire's culture and be able to best maintain it. He's got a few years to figure out a successor. But yeah this is mostly about the unique culture they have.
He also has been on the board since 1993. So it's not like his son is walking in today as the new guy.
He was elected by the board too, rather than directly placed by Warren.
> He was elected by the board too, rather than directly placed by Warren.
I don’t think the last name hurt his chances in 1993 either.
You would want someone who is intimately familiar with the culture to be involved for a long time in case something happened to Warren.
I imagine there were some other candidates in 1993 that didn't share Buffet's genetics.
They can just add those people to the board. It’s not a set number and they don’t regularly add or remove people unless they think they can bring something to the table. Sometimes that is simply “holds a bajillion shares” but if they wanted a High Frequency Trading CEO on the board for insight into that, they could add both his kid and that CEO.
It's also entirely possible he's essentially competent at the job of being a board member which is a pretty do-little job if the CEO is doing a good job.
Bill Gates could have been named but boys will be boys…
I meant in case something happened to Warrent back then, not recently, in case that wasn't clear
The family also owns 30% of the company that gives you board representation by itself
Does this actually work or is this just the best option he's got given he cannot live forever?