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Warren Buffett
Business

US pension giant Calpers plans to vote to replace Warren Buffett as Berkshire Hathaway’s chair

  • Calpers has over US$450 billion in assets under management and about US$2.3 billion in Berkshire shares
  • Berkshire opposes the proposal, saying last month that Buffett should continue in both roles

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Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 4, 2019. Photo: Reuters
Bloomberg
California Public Employees’ Retirement System (Calpers), the largest public pension fund in the US, said it plans to vote for a shareholder proposal that Berkshire Hathaway replace billionaire Warren Buffett as chairman.

The fund has over US$450 billion in assets under management and about US$2.3 billion in Berkshire shares, it said in a filing Tuesday.

The non-profit National Legal and Policy Center, which is also a shareholder, has called for an independent chair, saying the governance structure is weakened with both Chairman and Chief Executive Officer roles held by the same official.

Berkshire opposes the proposal, saying last month that Buffett should continue in both roles.

“However, as has been stated on numerous occasions by Mr. Buffett in the past, once Mr. Buffett is no longer Berkshire’s CEO, a non-management director should be named Board Chair,” the company said at the time.

Buffett, 91, has a 32 per cent voting interest in the company, and while he has given no indication his departure is imminent, succession questions have long loomed over Berkshire.

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