Warren Buffett's official biographer calls Byron Trott a "perfect candidate" to eventually take over at Berkshire Hathaway, now that Buffett's favorite investment banker has left Goldman Sachs.
Snowball author Alice Schroeder tells Bloomberg, "That's so obvious."
She says Trott "understands how Warren thinks about capital management and he understands the business. He sees them through Warren's eyes because he's got so much experience looking at them the way Warren looks at them."
Bloomberg cites Buffett's repeated past praise for Trott and the Goldman banker's involvement in several Berkshire Hathaway deals in recent years. And it notes that Trott's new fund "will invest in family-owned firms, the same type of enterprise Buffett favors."
But it's not such an obvious choice for Buffett-watcher Whitney Tilson of T2 Partners. He tells Bloomberg that while Trott "has been a good bloodhound" for Buffett, "there is no chance " that he would become Berkshire's CEO. "That's going to be one of his existing operating managers."
Buffett has said he has CEO candidates in mind and they "currently work for or are available to Berkshire."
The most commonly speculated names: MidAmerican Energy'sDavid Sokol, Berkshire insurance chief Ajit Jain, and Geico head Tony Nicely.
