Sokol to follow Buffet?

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:24 am

The next face of Berkshire?

http://www.omaha.com/article/20090806/NEWS01/708069940

Virgil Larson WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER wrote:Add another piece of evidence to the speculation that David Sokol will succeed Warren Buffett as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Buffett picked Sokol, an Omahan who is chairman of Berkshire-owned MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., to run NetJets, another Berkshire company, on an interim basis. NetJets is struggling, partly because the recession has curbed use of corporate jets in which NetJets sells shares.

Buffett's choice of Sokol as an executive with the skills to rescue NetJets supports the idea that he has wider experience managing diverse operations than other people mentioned as being on the short list of possible successors.

Virgil Larson WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER wrote:Buffett plans to split his jobs — CEO, chief investor and chairman of the board — into three. He said he has candidates in mind for investment chief. He wants his son Howard to become board chairman, so the culture and values established by Warren Buffett will continue.

Sokol clearly is a native son who likes Omaha. He graduated from North High School in 1974 and went on to attend the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where he played football. He has played a major role in the city's most significant civic events.

Wow. That's huge. And I'm not sure I understand it at all.

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:26 am

OK, I guess when I read the whole article, it says that Buffet will split his current role into three positions. Â Sokol won't be in the "chief investor" role.

Makes more sense now.

Post by **Brad** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:35 am

I always thought his son was in the mix?

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 12:42 pm

Yeah, I didn't read the whole article at first either.

Buffet says he'll eventually split his role in to three positions... Â a CEO, a "chief investor" and a board member. Â His son will be on the board. Â Sokol is being speculated as the CEO.

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:53 pm

I think if it came out that Buffett's son (the 'musician' ?) were taking over his father's role... the stock would plummet... oh who are we kidding... the stock is going to plummet the day it is announced anyone else is taking over.

Omababe · Post by **Omababe** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 6:44 am

Stargazer wrote:I think if it came out that Buffett's son (the 'musician' ?)

You mean Jimmy (Margaritaville) Buffett?

Supposedly he's no relation, and from down south somewhere.

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 3:46 pm

No... I mean PETER Buffett... Warren's son. Â That's the scary thing... he's better 'known' for his music... than his investing prowess.

Post by **Brad** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 3:56 pm

Stargazer wrote:No... I mean PETER Buffett... Warren's son. That's the scary thing... he's better 'known' for his music... than his investing prowess.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Buffett

His other son Howard is a farmer / nature photographer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Graham_Buffett

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:24 pm

yeah, just as uniquely qualified as his brother.

Post by **Brad** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 4:30 pm

Apparently Sokol just resigned. Â Looking for an article now.

Post by **Brad** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 4:40 pm

Buffett Heir Apparent Sokol Suddenly Resigns At Berkshire

http://www.cnbc.com/id/42347153

cnbc.com wrote:Warren Buffett stunned investors Wednesday when he announced the sudden resignation of David Sokol, widely considered to be Buffett's heir apparent at Berkshire Hathaway.

Buffett announced the move in a press release issued after the bell. (See link for press release).

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 5:34 pm

If someone has been talked out of resigning twice, I'd hardly characterize the third time as "sudden". Â

I'd characterize it more of "you're lucky you had a job after the first one".

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 7:43 pm

THIS is going to be fun:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 98882.html

Follow that timeline and just try to keep your eyebrows from arching.

HskrFanMike · Post by **HskrFanMike** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 7:59 pm

Maybe...

But I think this might have as much, if not more, to do with this...

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chief Executive Officer Warren Buffett said directors would support Ajit Jain as the company’s next head if the reinsurance executive decided to seek the post.

“He loves what he does, he’s not looking to take my job,” Buffett said yesterday at a news conference in Bangalore. “If he was, the board of directors would probably put him in there in a minute.”

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-0 ... -says.html

So Buffett goes to India, announces that Jain is his heir apparent, and Sokol sends his assistant over with his "I quit" letter upon his return. Â What message does that say?

S33 · Post by **S33** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 7:50 am

I doubt it has anything to do with Lubrizol seeing as how Berkshire willingly bought out the company after not only having known, but consulted with Sokol about his purchase.

What surprises me is that Buffet, after using business ethics as a cornerstone of the entire Berkshire portfolio, would operate in such a gray area.

I will say this has me wondering what the actual difference is between Sokol and Martha Stewart, though.

Omababe · Post by **Omababe** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 8:27 am

S33 wrote:I will say this has me wondering what the actual difference is between Sokol and Martha Stewart, though.

Only one of them has done hard time in the slammer.

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 10:40 am

S33 wrote:I doubt it has anything to do with Lubrizol seeing as how Berkshire willingly bought out the company after not only having known, but consulted with Sokol about his purchase.

What surprises me is that Buffet, after using business ethics as a cornerstone of the entire Berkshire portfolio, would operate in such a gray area.

From everything I read, the timeline went (all dates taken from the WSJ article):

- A regulatory filing identified LZ as a potential takeover target in December 2010.

- Sokol bought and sold 2000+ shares of LZ on 12/16/10 and 12/21/10.

- Sokol bought options on 96,000+ shares of LZ in early January 2011.

- Sokol brokered the deal with the LZ CEO (James Hambrick) beginning in January 2011.

- After Hambrick agreed to the terms, Buffet took the lead on the deal (1/25/2011), having "expressed skepticism" as recently as 1/24/2011.

- After the announcement of the purchase by Berkshire, LZ jumped from 105.44 to 134.68 on 3/14/2011, generating a personal profit of roughly $3 million for Sokol.

- Buffet allegedly found out about the stock purchases on 3/19/2011.

I'm not going to sit here and claim I have any insight into anything that went on other than what the article says, but if you're the SEC and this doesn't make you go "Hmmm...", I don't know what would.

Maybe Sokol was trying to quickly fund 1-AA football at UNO?

S33 wrote: will say this has me wondering what the actual difference is between Sokol and Martha Stewart, though

I believe her sentence was technically for obstruction of justice and lying to investigators. Kind of the Al Capone tax evasion method of prosecution.

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:36 pm

Curiouser and curioser:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/lubriz ... 2011-03-31

David Sokol said Thursday that he didn’t buy Lubrizol Corp. shares on inside information. But options trades earlier this month suggest someone may have been betting the lubricant company was going to be acquired, according to trading software firm Livevol.

On March 9, there were purchases of 2,168 Lubrizol April call options, according to Livevol.
...
On average, there are about 335 Lubrizol call options traded each day. The March 9 purchase was almost seven times that volume, Livevol noted. In total, there were 2,636 of those options traded that day, the firm added.

On March 14, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A 125,588, +287.90, +0.23%) (BRK.B 83.63, -.00, -.00%) said it agreed to buy Lubrizol for $135 a share in cash. Shares of the lubricant company surged 28% that day. Read about the deal here.

The largest Lubrizol options trade on March 14 was a sale of 2,650 call options for $23.90 each, according to Livevol.

“Assuming this is the same position,” the trade generated a profit of $5.71 million in five days, Livevol said.

Important to note that no one is implying this trade is Sokol.

But the ol' SEC eyebrow ought to be getting a little bit higher.

S33 · Post by **S33** » Fri Apr 01, 2011 8:24 am

Yeah, things are looking pretty bad if all of this is true.

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 5:00 pm

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sokol- ... 2011-04-12

David Sokol knew of progress toward a possible Berkshire Hathaway Inc. bid for Lubrizol Corp. before he bought almost $10 million worth of stock in the lubricant company, according to a new regulatory filing.

...

However, Lubrizol updated its proxy statement for the deal late Monday and included new information about what it said Sokol was told in December about progress toward a possible deal for the company.

Sokol was told that Lubrizol’s chief executive planned to inform the board about Berkshire’s “possible interest” in bidding for the lubricant company, according to the April 11 filing.

“This new information is extremely problematic,” said attorney Andrew Stoltmann, who represents investors who are victims of investment fraud. “Knowledge of what a chief executive officer plans to tell his board regarding a possible acquisition would likely be considered material, nonpublic information. Trading on this information is a significant problem under the federal securities laws.”

...

“Certainly, as we learn more, the shades of gray darken. And it is more and more obvious why Mr. Buffett accepted Mr. Sokol’s resignation so readily,” said Jacob Frenkel, a former state and federal criminal prosecutor and former Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer who leads the securities enforcement, white-collar criminal, corporate investigations and corporate-governance practices at Shulman Rogers.

ohnoez

S33 · Post by **S33** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 9:30 am

He'll eventually be indicted. That's what you get for being a greedy |expletive| and not playing by the rules, I guess.

Ben · Post by **Ben** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:21 pm

as we all knew would eventually happen, a Berkshire shareholder sued the board, Buffett, and Sokol over Sokol's Lubrizol trades, and the company's purported cover-up of the situation.

I'm not so sure its going to be business as usual, "woodstock for capitalists", as in years past. Â Buffett may face some tough questions at the upcoming Berkshire meeting.

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 4:10 pm

Underside of bus, may I present David Sokol. Â David Sokol, underside of bus.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110427/N ... sokol-deal

joeglow · Post by **joeglow** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 5:36 pm

Someone may be going to Federal-Pound-Me-In-The-|expletive|-Prison.

OmahaJaysCU · Post by **OmahaJaysCU** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 10:15 pm

Good thing Creighton and UNO got his money already...

joeglow · Post by **joeglow** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 8:31 am

OmahaJaysCU wrote:Good thing Creighton and UNO got his money already...

Sounds like Sokol may be a real piece of work. On KFAB this morning, they were discussing him and Jim Rose stated, with fact, that Sokol publicly lied on at least 2 occasions:

1. When he claimed to have no idea that Frank Solich was being fired.
2. When he claimed to know nothing about UNO getting rid of the wrestling and football programs.

I am not claiming that these are true, but it was spoken as if they were proved facts to Rose. He also pointed out how when Solich privately went to Sokol to ask his advice on being a CEO/leader, it was a bit narcissistic, arrogant and rude for Sokol to make this private conversation public. In short, sounds like he MAY be a bit of a piece of sh*t.

S33 · Post by **S33** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:09 am

Narcissistic or piece of sh*t, who knows. But he certainly appears to be a greedy pickle sniffer.