Sokal, who was Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway’s MidAmerican Energy, NetJets, and Johns Mansville units, expressed that he wanted to spend more time on philanthropy; and on investing his resources to create strong equity value and to create an enterprise to provide opportunity for his descendents. 

Two years ago, David Sokol had expressed these same ambitions to Warren Buffet and other Berkshire executives; but at the time they talked him out of resigning and staying with the company.  So, it seems Warren Buffet was surprised but wasn’t surprised, as he knew of Sokol’s ambitions for a few years.  Perhaps Buffet was merely surprised when Sokol actually seriously followed through on his design to resign and spend the rest of his career investing his resources for his family and descendents.

The shock was also perhaps because it was predicted by many that Sokol would one day succeed Buffet as CEO of Berkshire.  He was earmarked as Buffet’s heir apparent.

Warren Buffet only commands an annual salary of $100,000 per year.  As the chairman and chief executive of the Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway, he has insisted that his salary remain at $100,000 annually for the past 25 years.

His totally compensation is roughly $525,000 because of his added security costs.  The biggest piece of Buffet’s compensation is the amount the company spends on his personal and home security.  These security costs appear substantial because the company does not maintain a security force at its 21-person headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska, so the charges are considered a perk. 

Berkshire Hathaway owns about 80 subsidiaries, including clothing, furniture, jewelry and corporate jets firms.  But its larger and more profitable businesses are its insurance and utility companies, which account for more than half of the company’s net income.