Nati Harnik
David Sokol, the man many considered to be a shoo-in as Warren Buffett’s successor, resigned from Berkshire Hathaway Wednesday after reportedly purchasing shares of a company that he had advised Buffett buy. Sokol purchased 2,300 shares of the chemical company Lubrizol on Dec. 14, then sold those shares on Dec. 21. Sokol bought 96,060 shares of the company in early January at a price of no more than $104 a share—and then Berkshire Hathaway announced on March 18 that it would be buying the company for $9 billion, or $135 a share. Sokol insists he had “no inside information or knowledge” that Buffett would be interested in the company, and said Buffett only found out Sokol owned the shares when Sokol submitted the information to Berkshire’s general counsel. Buffett said in a statement that he did not believe Berkshire Hathaway’s purchase of Lubrizol was “in any way unlawful.”