Welcome, Guest! - Sign-In or Create an Account

Easy to remember! » VinNews.com

Omaha, NE - Report: Warren Buffett's Successor May Be Chinese‎

Published on: July 30, 2010 09:03 AM

News Source: Wall Street Journal

Text Size

Email Post

Print Post

Comments (0)

Save Article

Omaha, NE - Twenty-one years ago, Li Lu was a student leader of the Tiananmen Square protests. Now a hedge-fund manager, he is in line to become a successor to Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Mr. Li, 44 years old, has emerged as a leading candidate to run a chunk of Berkshire’s $100 billion portfolio, stemming from a close friendship with Charlie Munger, Berkshire’s 86-year-old vice chairman. In an interview, Mr. Munger revealed that Mr. Li was likely to become one of the top Berkshire investment officials. “In my mind, it’s a foregone conclusion,” Mr. Munger said.

The job of filling Mr. Buffett’s shoes is among the most high-profile succession stories in modern corporate history. Mr. Buffett, who will turn 80 in a month, says he has no current plans to step down and will likely split his job after he leaves the company into separate CEO and investing functions. Mr. Li’s emergence as a contender to oversee Berkshire investments is the first time a name has been identified to fill the investment part of Mr. Buffett’s legendary role.

The development illustrates that Berkshire is moving toward putting in place—possibly sooner than investors anticipated—certain aspects of its succession plan.

The Chinese-American investor already has made money for Berkshire: He introduced Mr. Munger to BYD Co., a Chinese battery and auto maker, and Berkshire invested. Since 2008, Berkshire’s BYD stake has surged more than six-fold, generating profit of about $1.2 billion, Mr. Buffett says. Mr. Li’s hedge funds have garnered an annualized compound return of 26.4% since 1998, compared to 2.25% for the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index during the same period.

Read full story at the Wall Street Journal

More of today's headlines

“Washington - Republicans wanted an election-season ethics case against Democratic powerhouse Rep. Charles Rangel of New York. And now, it looks like they have one. A...”

Washington - GOP Get Their Wish With Rangel Case In Campaign Season “Brooklyn, NY - Two cops from a troubled Brooklyn precinct tried to trump up charges against a perp -- who turned out to be an undercover Internal Affairs investigator...”