Berkshire said in February it has four candidates to succeed Buffett as CEO, without publicly identifying them. Investors including Buffett biographer Andrew Kilpatrick had said Sokol was the most likely successor. On March 23, Buffett said at a news conference in India that Ajit Jain, Berkshire's reinsurance head, would win the support of directors if he decided to seek the top job.
"I really feel about him like I would a brother or a son," Buffett said of Jain. "He's not only excelled at every single task he's taken on in insurance, but he's behaved in a way that's been totally honorable."
Buffett said in the statement that he hadn't asked for Sokol's resignation and that it came as a surprise. Twice in years past Sokol had considered resigning and been persuaded to stay, Buffett said. Berkshire is "far more valuable today" because of Sokol's service, Buffett said. Sokol said he will devote his career to investing his family's resources and may start an enterprise, according to Buffett's statement.
"There likely will be an investigation," said Jacob Frenkel, an attorney at Shulman Rogers Gandal Pordy & Ecker in Potomac, Maryland, and a former SEC lawyer specializing in fraud and stock manipulation cases. "If all we have here are purchases before making a recommendation, and the decision to pursue an acquisition doesn't commence until after the transactions are completed, that wouldn't satisfy the definition of insider trading."