Buffett will still be running Berkshire Hathaway one year from now.
He still shows no signs he plans to retire and deflects any questions on the subject. His treatments over the summer for stage I prostate cancer don't appear to have slowed him down, as he continues to agitate for higher taxes on the rich and make marathon two-hour appearances on CNBC's Squawk Box. Buffett even did a "book tour" in late November with several TV interviews to promote "Tap Dancing to Work," the collection of Fortune articles about him put together by his long-time friend, Fortune magazine's Carol Loomis.
Buffett will get the 'elephant' that's been eluding him.
He wrote in his 2011 letter to Berkshire shareholders that his "elephant gun has been reloaded, and my trigger finger is itchy" for a multi-billion dollar acquisition. It hasn't happened so far. Buffett revealed that two possible big buys "that were plus and minus" $20 billion didn't get done this year because he couldn't get the price as low as he wanted. Berkshire won't borrow money to do a deal, unlike competing buyers who use cheap money to "bid pretty aggressively." Still, in an October CNBC interview, Buffett told us he's "salivating" for another big acquisition and I think he'll finally bag one with a big chunk of the $40 billion in cash now burning a hole in Berkshire's pocket.
Buffett will keep singing.
He's not getting any shyer as he gets older. In 2012, Buffett sang "I've Been Working on the Railroad" on Chinese TV, performed "I'm Only a Paperboy" while tossing newspapers at the Omaha Press Club Show, and did a "once in a lifetime" duet of "The Glory of Love" with Jon Bon Jovi. Next stop, Carnegie Hall?
