weiwentg (98.34)

My comments on Sokol

April 01, 2011 – Comments (1)

Much ink has been spilled over David Sokol's stock trades and subsequent departure from Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B). I'll add only this.

I'm a shareholder in Bridgeway Aggressive Growth II (BRAIX). The firm has a policy that employees are not allowed to trade stocks on their own account. They can only invest through their own funds. I believe that many of the fund firms with the best records on stewardship have a similar policy.

Berkshire doesn't have that requirement, which seems fair - requiring key employees to hold 100 percent of their wealth in one equity doesn't seem reasonable, whereas a fund family should provide a diversified list of holdings. However, Sokol's actions are definitely against the spirit of putting your firm first. Most damning are his reported comments that if he were to get a do-over, he would have bought the stock and not told Buffett. Now, perhaps he bought the stock, and later realized that it was a possible fit as an acquisition for Berkshire. In that case, I would have disclosed that fact to the company upfront, and offered to reimburse some or all of my personal profits.