Berkshire’s Sokol denies Lubrizol wrongdoing
FORMER Berkshire Hathaway executive David Sokol said yesterday he has invested in companies that he then recommended for acquisition in the past, a day after Berkshire disclosed Sokol pushed Lubrizol to Warren Buffett after investing in it.
But Sokol said if he had it all to do again, he would have invested in Lubrizol for himself and not passed the recommendation on to Buffett.
He said he did not expect Buffett to want to buy the company and was surprised at how quickly the “sage of Omaha” moved to make a deal.
Buffett released a letter earlier in the week disclosing that Sokol bought a substantial stake in Lubrizol before urging Buffett to acquire the company, which Buffett did for $9bn (£5.6bn) this month.
Sokol appeared to have made a profit of at least $2.98m on his investment.