Warren Buffett chooses successor to run Berkshire Hathaway, but who?

The Telegraph - Warren Buffett has chosen his successor to run Berkshire Hathaway, but kept investors guessing as to the identity of the man or woman.

The 81-year-old, arguably the world’s greatest investor, said in his annual letter to shareholders: “Your board is enthusiastic about my successor as CEO, an individual to whom they have had a great deal of exposure and whose managerial and human qualities they admire.” He said the person would “enjoy a running start” once he and his lieutenant Charlie Munger retire.
“Do not, however, infer from this that Charlie and I are going anywhere; we continue to be in excellent health.”
In the letter Mr Buffett went out of his way to praise certain people, leading to speculation they could be the successor. They included Tony Nicely, who runs GEICO insurance company, owned by Berkshire, as well as Matt Rose and Greg Abel, who run two separate railroad companies owned by Berkshire.
Berkshire’s posted a mixed set of results, hit by he continued slump in the US housing market, which Mr Buffett predicted would start to recover in 2011. “I was dead wrong,” he admitted.
"In aggregate, our five housing-related companies had pre-tax profits of $513m in 2011. That's similar to 2010 but down from $1.8bn in 2006."

Mr Buffett also dismissed gold as a valueless asset for the second time this month.
"True, gold has some industrial and decorative utility, but the demand for these purposes is both limited and incapable of soaking up new production. Meanwhile, if you own one ounce of gold for an eternity, you will still own one ounce at its end," he said.
Profits were also hit by a fall in profits from the insurance business, following earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan. Overall, Berkshire's insurance businesses had an underwriting profit in 2011 of only $248m against just over $2bn in 2010. The company's reinsurance business, which writes very large policies and suffered $800m of losses from the natural disasters, was in the red, showing losses of $714m.
Mr Buffett, however, praised his investment in IBM and purchase of Lubrizol, a chemical company. He admitted he was, as with Coca-Cola and railroads, "late to the party" with IBM. He now owns a 5.5pc stake worth $11.8bn at the end of last year.
Berkshire’s stake in Tesco, at the end of 2011 was in profit up from a book value of $1.72bn to a market value of $1.83bn, though it will have fallen since, following the major profit warning the supermarket issued in January.
Net earnings attributable to Berkshire Hathaway fell from $12.9bn to $10.7bn.
Book value per share, Mr Buffett’s preferred measure, rose 4.6pc beating the total return of the S&P 500 index, up 2.1pc.