Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Warren Buffett on Monday told CNBC that Greg Abel, the conglomerate’s vice chairman in charge of non-insurance operations, would be his successor as CEO if Buffett were to leave the top job. “The directors are in agreement that if something were to happen to me tonight, it would be Greg who’d take over tomorrow morning,” Buffett said, according to the report. Abel, along with fellow Vice Chairman Ajit Jain, who runs the company’s insurance operations, had long been seen as a likely candidate to succeed Buffett. The remarks by Buffett come after Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, in response to a question Saturday at Berkshire’s annual meeting, had appeared to some Berkshire watchers to let the succession plans slip. Asked about whether the company’s operations could eventually become too complicated to manage, said the company’s structure would outlast himself and Buffett and that “Greg will keep the culture.”
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