www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7670056
Jeff Christensen / AP file Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, right, talks to Warren Buffett, Chairman o f Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshires shareholders are expected to vote Gate s onto their board of directors this weekend. The Associated Press Updated: 12:01 pm ET April 29, 2005 OMAHA, Neb.
chairman's presence on the board might mean for Berkshire is not clear, but Gates could help the company plan for a future without its l egendary 74-year-old founder. "Both have distinctive insights into the same set of facts everyone else sees." Robert Miles, author of two books about Buffett, said Gates, 49, has alre ady overseen a transfer of control at Microsoft, having handed his CEO t itle to Steve Ballmer in 2000. "He has built an entity and passed it on to another CEO, which is an impo rtant role the board has after Warren," Miles said.
Buffett may face thorny questions in Omaha Buffett has said he would never retire as chairman and chief executive of ficer of Berkshire, short of physical or mental incapacity. In the event of his departure, Buffett has said three people would be needed to repl ace him. His eldest son, Howard, a Berkshire board member, would become chairman. Two Berkshire executives whom Buffett has not named would run the company, one to handle operations and the other to handle investment s Buffett controls the company, which has a market value of around $130 bil lion, with nearly 40 percent of the stock, worth more than $40 billion. Berkshire invests in companies in traditional businesses like newspapers , soft drinks and insurance. Besides Berkshire, Buffett is on the boards of Coca-Cola Co. Buffett was not conducting interviews, said his assistant, Debbie Bosanek. Gates is worth more than $46 billion as founder of the world's largest so ftware company. He owns about $300 million in Berkshire stock and was ap pointed to the board in December, to fill the vacancy left by the July d eath of Buffett's wife, Susan. Gates was traveling and was not available to comment for this article, Microsoft spokesman Corey duBrowa said. Gates' appointment, which shareholders must formally approve, marks the f irst time he and Buffett have been on the same board, though they have b een friends since meeting at a social event in Seattle in 1991. When Gat es became engaged to his wife, Melinda, in 1993, they bought an engageme nt ring at Berkshire-owned Borsheim's jewelry story in Omaha; Melinda Gates is also a member of the Washington Post board, where Buffett also sits.
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