Howie Buffett Steps In to Preserve What His Father Built

Warren Buffett has stepped down from the company he built more than half a century ago, bringing an extraordinary era at Berkshire Hathaway to a close. His son Howie is taking over as chairman, completing a succession plan years in the making. But his appointment also tells us what Buffett fears could happen to Berkshire without him.

Howie is an unconventional choice to help lead a $1 trillion conglomerate. He never graduated from college and has spent much of his career farming and running a charitable foundation. But his father has long seen him as uniquely suited to protect Berkshire’s culture and sprawling structure from pressure for change, as questions grow about its enormous cash pile, its lagging stock and whether its collection of businesses should remain intact.

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