A Buffett Roundup: Recovery and Succession

Warren Buffett at the 2010 shareholders meeting of Berkshire Hathaway.

Image: Reuters

It was a predictably busy weekend for Warren Buffett, who traded a few shots with a top-ranked junior table-tennis player, sang Red River Valley, had his financial lessons featured in a cartoon—and fiercely defended Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein.

While his impassioned support for Goldman was in the spotlight and boosted the Wall Street giant's shares, the billionaire investor had time to opine on other topics as he wrapped up overseeing the annual shareholders meeting of Berkshire Hathaway. To wit:

— Economy's coming back: Buffett was on television Monday to say that the economy was beginning to show strength. "The best jobs program in the world is demand, and demand is coming back," Buffett said.

— May buy a Japanese company: Buffett plans to visit Japan in March of next year to make a significant acquisition. “I hope between now and then there will be opportunities for us to buy in Japan,” Buffett, said at a press conference Monday, adding that no deal was imminent. The trip would also include stops in India, China, and South Korea.

— Criticizes Cadbury deal: The Oracle of Omaha lit into the deal, closed last February, in which Kraft acquired the British candymaker for about $20 billion, funding the deal in part by selling its pizza business. Buffett, who has an 8.8 percent stake in Kraft through Berkshire Hathaway, said Kraft paid "a very fancy price" for Cadbury.

"The odds are that both deals are dumb. The pizza deal was particularly dumb," Buffett said, calling it a "terribly tax-inefficient deal. We expect to do some dumb things, it's just we get mad when others do dumb things."

— Discusses succession plan: Buffett, who will turn 80 on August 30, repeated that Berkshire has three potential successors and a plan in place to replace him immediately.

"If I drop dead tonight…tomorrow morning there will be a successor in place, and the board knows exactly who," Buffett told CNBC. "And if for some reason that person drops dead, there will be a second choice." Buffett also said the successors would be "reasonably young."

The list of rumored successors has included David Sokol, the chairman of Berkshire's MidAmerican Energy Holdings unit; Ajit Jain, top Berkshire insurance executive; and Tony Nicely, Geico Corp. chief executive. Omaha native Sokol's stock shot up over the weekend after Buffett praised his work turning a profit at Netjets, which offers fractional aircraft ownership.