Billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway co-founder Warren Buffett has named his middle child, Howard “Howie” Buffett, his successor. The 70-year-old will take over as the non-executive chairman of the $1 trillion (around Rs 86.55 lakh crore) business empire.

The 94-year-old billionaire, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, revealed that nearly all of his remaining wealth will be directed to a new charitable trust. Mr Buffett, who has been “planning for decades” for the transition, has ensured that his three children – Susie, Howard, and Peter – will not inherit the bulk of his fortune but will instead manage the new trust. The trio will oversee $140 billion worth of Berkshire stocks dedicated to philanthropic efforts.

On choosing Howie as successor, Mr Buffet said, “He is getting it because he’s my son. I’m very, very, very lucky in the fact that I trust all three of my children.”

Howie, who has served as a director on Berkshire’s board for over 30 years, said he feels ready to take on the role. “I feel I’m prepared for it because he prepared me. That’s a lot of years of influence and a lot of years of teaching,” he told the WSJ.

Who is Howie Buffet?

• Howie Buffett struggled during his college years but eventually found his footing with guidance from his father, a WSJ report said. On Warren Buffett’s advice, Howie moved to Los Angeles to work at See’s Candies, a company owned by Berkshire Hathaway, to gain practical business experience. He later started his own excavating business before transitioning to farming.
• Warren Buffett purchased a farm for Howie, who paid his father market-rate rent to operate it, as per WSJ. Over time, Howie became a strong advocate for no-till farming, focusing on soil conservation and sustainable agricultural practices.
• In 1989, Howie Buffet joined the county board of commissioners and later became a member, and eventually chairman, of the Nebraska ethanol board. From 2017 to 2018, he served as sheriff of Macon County, Illinois, following his earlier role as an auxiliary deputy.
• Since 1993, Howie Buffet has served as a director on the boards of several prominent companies, including Berkshire Hathaway, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Lindsay Corporation, Sloan Implement, ConAgra Foods, and agricultural equipment-maker GSI Group.
• Howie Buffet established a charitable foundation focused on conservation and other philanthropic initiatives. He has also authored eight books on conservation, wildlife, and related topics. Howie Buffett married Devon Morse, with whom he has a son, Howard Warren Buffett. He also had four stepdaughters from his marriage to Morse.

Billionaire Warren Buffett has shared his thoughts on the future of his immense fortune and offered advice on inheritance in a message to his company’s shareholders.

The Berkshire Hathaway CEO revealed his plans for wealth distribution in a letter posted to the company website. Mr Buffett announced that $1.1 billion of his Berkshire shares would be donated to his family’s four foundations, with the remainder of his holdings to be gradually distributed by his three children after his passing.

The 94-year-old’s message carried an introspective tone, reflecting on the inevitability of mortality. “Father time always wins. But he can be fickle – indeed unfair and even cruel – sometimes ending life at birth or soon thereafter while, at other times, waiting a century or so before paying a visit. To date, I’ve been very lucky, but, before long, he will get around to me,” he wrote.

Acknowledging the challenges his children may face due to their own advancing years — now aged 71, 69 and 66 — Mr Buffett said that he has appointed three potential trustees to ensure his wishes are honoured if his children cannot complete the task. “Three potential successor trustees have been designated. Each is well known to my children and makes sense to all of us. They are also somewhat younger than my children,” Mr Buffett wrote.

He underscored his preference for decisions within the foundations to be made unanimously and shared his approach to simplifying his will, which he reviews periodically.

Mr Buffett also offered advice for parents navigating the sensitive topic of inheritance planning. He said, “I have one further suggestion for all parents, whether they are of modest or staggering wealth. When your children are mature, have them read your will before you sign it.”

He stressed the importance of transparency, urging parents to explain their decisions to avoid misunderstandings. “Be sure each child understands both the logic for your decisions and the responsibilities they will encounter upon your death. If any have questions or suggestions, listen carefully and adopt those found sensible. You don’t want your children asking “Why?” in respect to testamentary decisions when you are no longer able to respond.”

Reflecting on decades of observation, Mr Buffett noted how unresolved issues stemming from wills have caused discord among families. He recounted instances he and his late business partner, Charlie Munger, witnessed when miscommunication and perceived inequities led to fractured relationships.

“Jealousies, along with actual or imagined slights during childhood, became magnified, particularly when sons were favoured over daughters, either in monetary ways or by positions of importance,” Buffett wrote.

Yet, he also highlighted success stories of open discussions about a will bringing families closer and together.

“Charlie and I also witnessed a few cases where a wealthy parent’s will that was fully discussed before death helped the family become closer. What could be more satisfying?” Buffett added.

According to Forbes, at the time of writing, the Berkshire Hathaway CEO had a net worth of $143 billion.

Warren Buffett has revised the plans for his considerable fortune after his death. Mr Buffett, 93, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, revealed to the Wall Street Journal that he has reworked his will and will not continue donations to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation posthumously. Instead, he will allocate his wealth to a new charitable trust managed by his three children.

“The Gates Foundation has no money coming after my death,” Mr Buffett told the Journal.

Mr Buffett mentioned that he has altered his will multiple times, with the latest changes motivated by his confidence in his children’s values and ability to distribute his wealth appropriately. Each of his children has a philanthropic organisation.

“I feel very, very good about the values of my three children, and I have 100% trust in how they will carry things out,” Buffett said.

Previously, Mr Buffett had stated that over 99% of his estate was designated for philanthropic use by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the four family-related charities: the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, Sherwood Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and NoVo Foundation.

For now, Mr Buffett seems to be continuing his donations to the Gates Foundation during his lifetime.

Berkshire Hathaway announced on Friday that Mr Buffett is converting around 9,000 Class A shares into over 13 million Class B shares. Approximately 9.3 million shares will be allocated to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, with the remainder distributed among the four Buffett family charities.

“Warren Buffett has been exceedingly generous to the Gates Foundation through more than 18 years of contributions and advice,” Mark Suzman, the foundation’s chief executive, stated to CNN. “We are deeply grateful for his most recent gift and contributions totalling approximately $43 billion to our work.” (Melinda announced in May that she would leave the organization, with her last day being June 7, though the foundation has not yet changed its name.)

Last year, Mr Buffett donated about $870 million to his family’s four charities, and around $750 million to them in 2022.

Following these newly announced donations, Mr Buffett owns 207,963 Berkshire Hathaway Class A shares and 2,586 Class B shares, with the total value of these shares being roughly $128 billion.

Wang Chuanfu, the founder of Chinese automaker BYD, has become a big name in the automobile industry. BYD is quickly gaining on Elon Musk’s Tesla in the electric vehicle (EV) space to be the number 1. But now, a report in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has said that Mr Wang drank a glass full of battery fluid to impress a member of investor Warren Buffet’s team, who had reached Shenzhen to check if the company is worth investing in.

BYD – short for ‘Build Your Dreams’ – first launched as a battery maker in the 1995 but in 2003, pivoted from being the world’s largest manufacturer of rechargeable mobile phone batteries to the automotive sector.

The company is now on track to beat Tesla in terms of vehicle sales, as per Financial Times (FT). In July, Forbes even reported that BYD’s stock jumped 90 per cent despite the ongoing Covid-19 cases in the country as he raked in US $7 billion. His personal wealth is valued at over US $25 billion, which makes him currently the 22nd richest person in China, per FT.

In the automobile business, he replicated the way he made batteries to keep costs down. Mr Wang’s business model attracted the attention of Mr Buffet and in 2008, he sent one of his aides David Sokol to Shenzhen to check out BYD.

Mr Wang saw an opportunity to expand to other markets, like the US, and took the visitor through his factories.

At one point during the tour, while trying to impress Mr Sokol about how BYD’s batteries were safe for environment, poured himself a glass of battery fluid and took a sip, the WSJ said in its report.

The mixture did not taste good and the US businessman declined the offer to try it.

In September that year, Mr Buffet-owned Berkshire Hathaway bought a 10 per cent stake in BYD for $232 million via its energy unit.

Mr Wang, born in 1966 in Anhui province, was raised by older siblings after both his parents died.