Everything Warren Buffett: CNBC: The "Next Warren Buffett" to CNBC: Many Executives More Qualified To Run Berkshire Than I Am

Saturday, May 2, 2009

CNBC: The "Next Warren Buffett" to CNBC: Many Executives More Qualified To Run Berkshire Than I Am

Published: Friday, 1 May 2009 | 11:22 AM ET

By: Alex Crippen
Executive Producer

MidAmerican Energy Holdings Chairman David Sokol

The man Barron's has suggested is the leading candidate to succeed Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway modestly tells us there are lots of executives more qualified than he is for the job, which he thinks won't become available for many years to come.

MidAmerican Energy Holdings' David Sokol calls all the speculation "a waste of time."

This morning on CNBC's Squawk Box, the Chairman of the Berkshire subsidiary spoke live with our Becky Quick in Omaha.

Here's what he had to say when Becky asked him if anyone has approached him from Berkshire about the job:

"No, not at all. I think the reality is, if you start with the board of Berkshire, we've got the most honored collection of CEOs and investors in any board in America. You've got the best investor in the history of capitalism in Warren Buffett. And the reality is there are a dozen or more executives more qualified than I am to succeed Warren, should that ever happen. Frankly, I've been working with Warren, fortunately, for ten years and I think he's every bit more capable today than he was ten years ago. So, A, I don't think it's going to happen in the next twenty years, and B, frankly, the speculation is kind of a waste of time."

He also tells Becky that while the economy and banking system are out of the "emergency room," they remain in "intensive care" and "we're going to be there for awhile."

Sokol predicts it will be "several years" before we see a "real recovery."

The video clip includes the entire conversation among Sokol, Becky, and the Squawkers back at CNBC Global Headquarters.

Current Berkshire stock prices:

Class A: [US;BRK.A 93100.0 -900.00 (-0.96%) ]