感
谢《华尔街日报》和《财富》杂志最近的报导，目前我们对巴菲特（Warren Buffett）决定卸下大任时谁将掌管部分伯克希尔哈撒韦（Berkshire Hathaway）有了更清晰的了解。这可能是迄今最引人瞩目的执行长继任人之争，让我们近距离地对比一下两位有望接替巴菲特职位的人士──索科尔（David Sokol）和李路。
成名的原因：
李路：他以收购中国电池和汽车生产企业比亚迪(BYD Co.)股份著称，尽管这只股票目前正在下跌。伯克希尔哈撒韦在2008年投资2.3亿美元买入比亚迪近10%的股权，目前这些投资价值15亿美元。
索科尔：他是伯克希尔哈撒韦旗下公用事业企业中美能源控股公司（MidAmerican Energy Holdings）的董事长。经常为巴菲特救场，他受命扭转正在衰落的建筑与工程产品制造企业佳斯迈威集团（Johns Manville）的颓势，并为伯克希尔哈撒韦对比亚迪进行尽职调查。当被派去重组伯克希尔哈撒韦处于亏损状态中的NetJets时，索科尔削减了债务和成本，并取消了名人或雇员的朋友免费乘坐飞机的权利。
具有电影价值的背景：
AFP/Getty Images
李路（左）
索科尔：他的故事与巴菲特差不多，索科尔在内布拉斯加州奥马哈长大，曾当过报童并在小杂货铺工作过。索科尔第一次看见尸体而吓晕后，就放弃了成为一名医生的计划。上世纪90年代初，索科尔帮助买入一家地热企业，并使其成为不断扩大的公用事业公司。去年中美能源控股公司营收为114亿美元，约占伯克希尔哈撒韦总营收的10%。
年龄：
李路: 44
索科尔: 53
如何结识巴菲特：
李路：2003年感恩节这天他遇到了伯克希尔哈撒韦的副董事长兼巴菲特的朋友──芒格（Charlie Munger），李路和芒格谈得很投机。芒格家族向李路刚启动的一家新价值基金初步投资5000万美元。
索科尔：伯克希尔哈撒韦于2000年买入中美能源控股公司，索科尔是这家公司的董事长兼首席执行长。
谁的支持者更大牌：
Bloomberg News
索科尔在伯克希尔哈撒韦公司今年年会上的照片
索科尔：巴菲特对《财富》杂志说，他一天干的活比我一周干的都多，我不是开玩笑。
大胆押注：
李路：还是比亚迪
索科尔：他前去拯救处于破产边缘的联合能源公司（Constellation Energy）。据《财富》杂志报导，索科尔对助手说，如果你不打断会议，就会丢掉饭碗，以此把联合能源的首席执行长从董事会会议中拉了出来。索科尔达成了以47亿美元收购联合能源公司的交易，但此后一家法国公用事业公司出了更高价格，伯克希尔哈撒韦因此获得了12亿美元的谈判破裂费。
管理风格：
李路：未知
索科尔：他向高管派发自己出版的长达129页的《满意但不满足》（Pleased but Not Satisfied）这本书，此书展示了他的管理哲学。他在这本书里说，他把每个员工都按顺序排列，如果迫不得已，他将按此顺序解雇他们。他每周有五天时间早上五点前起床，跑五英里并举重。
评价：
李路：他的纪录很短，比亚迪是唯一的重大胜利。截至第二季度末，今年他的基金累计跌13%。
索科尔：NetJets的联合创始人雅各布斯（Jim Jacobs）说，索科尔削减成本使公司客户减少，并使前景略微蒙上阴影。
Shira Ovide
Thanks to recent reports in WSJ and Fortune, we now have a clearer picture of the executives in line to run parts of Berkshire Hathaway when Warren Buffett decides to hang up his oracle robes.
To help handicap what is perhaps the highest profile executive succession ever, here is a head-to-head matchup of David Sokol and Li Lu, the two men expected to try to fill Buffett's considerable shoes:
Claim to fame:
Li: He is best known for loading up shares of BYD Co., the Chinese battery and car maker, even when the stock was tanking. Berkshire in 2008 invested $230 million for a nearly 10% stake in BYD. The investment now is valued at $1.5 billion.
Sokol: The chairman of Berkshire-owned utility MidAmerican Energy Holdings, Sokol often parachutes in to battle Buffett?s fires. He was tapped to turn around Johns Manville, a sagging roofing and insulation company, and did due diligence for Berkshire on BYD. Brought in to shake up Berkshire?s loss-plagued NetJets, Sokol slashed debt and costs and dropped free uses of airplanes for celebrities or employees? friends.
Movie-worth backstory:
Li: After his parents were sent to labor camps during Mao Zedong?s Cultural Revolution, Li was raised by a string of different families. In 1989, Li helped organize student protests in Tiananmen Square. He later came to the U.S. to attend Columbia University. He earned three degrees there: in economics, law and a graduate degree in business.
Sokol: In a story line that matches Buffett?s, Sokol grew up in Omaha, Neb., delivered newspapers as a child and worked at a small grocery store. Sokol dropped plans to become a doctor after he fainted when he first saw a cadaver. Sokol in the early 1990s helped buy a geothermal business and turned it into a sprawling utility company. MidAmerican last year generated revenue of $11.4 billion, about 10% of Berkshire?s total revenue.
Age:
Li: 44
Sokol: 53
How he teamed up with the Oracle of Omaha:
Li: He met Charlie Munger, Berkshire Hathaway?s vice chairman and Buffett friend, on Thanksgiving Day in 2003, and the two hit it off immediately. Munger?s family poured an initial $50 million into a new value fund Li was starting.
Sokol: Berkshire bought MidAmerican, where Sokol was chairman and CEO, in 2000.
Biggest fans:
Li: Musician Sting told WSJ that Li is ?hardworking and clever?
Sokol: 'He gets more done in a day,' Buffett told Fortune, 'than probably I get done in a week, and I'm not kidding.'
Bold bet:
Li: BYD, again.
Sokol: He swooped in to save utility Constellation Energy from the brink of bankruptcy. Sokol pulled the Constellation CEO out of a board session by telling his assistant, 'If you don't interrupt the meeting, you might lose your job,' according to Fortune. Sokol struck a $4.7-billion deal to buy Constellation that was later topped by a French utility. Berkshire walked away with a $1.2 billion breakup fee.
Management Style:
Li: Unknown.
Sokol: He gives executives copies of his 129-page, self published book, ?Pleased but Not Satisfied,? that spells out his management philosophy. He also says in the book that he ranks each of his employees by the order in which he would fire them if forced to do so. He is out of bed before 5 am, runs five miles and lifts weights five days a week.
Critics:
Li: His track record is short, and BYD is his only major success. This year, his fund is down 13% at the end of the second quarter.
Sokol: NetJets Co-Founder Jim Jacobs said Sokols cost cutting has cost the company customers and left it a ?tiny shadow of what it was.
-By Shira Ovide
-0-
Copyright (c) 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
To help handicap what is perhaps the highest profile executive succession ever, here is a head-to-head matchup of David Sokol and Li Lu, the two men expected to try to fill Buffett's considerable shoes:
Claim to fame:
Li: He is best known for loading up shares of BYD Co., the Chinese battery and car maker, even when the stock was tanking. Berkshire in 2008 invested $230 million for a nearly 10% stake in BYD. The investment now is valued at $1.5 billion.
Sokol: The chairman of Berkshire-owned utility MidAmerican Energy Holdings, Sokol often parachutes in to battle Buffett?s fires. He was tapped to turn around Johns Manville, a sagging roofing and insulation company, and did due diligence for Berkshire on BYD. Brought in to shake up Berkshire?s loss-plagued NetJets, Sokol slashed debt and costs and dropped free uses of airplanes for celebrities or employees? friends.
Movie-worth backstory:
Li: After his parents were sent to labor camps during Mao Zedong?s Cultural Revolution, Li was raised by a string of different families. In 1989, Li helped organize student protests in Tiananmen Square. He later came to the U.S. to attend Columbia University. He earned three degrees there: in economics, law and a graduate degree in business.
Sokol: In a story line that matches Buffett?s, Sokol grew up in Omaha, Neb., delivered newspapers as a child and worked at a small grocery store. Sokol dropped plans to become a doctor after he fainted when he first saw a cadaver. Sokol in the early 1990s helped buy a geothermal business and turned it into a sprawling utility company. MidAmerican last year generated revenue of $11.4 billion, about 10% of Berkshire?s total revenue.
Age:
Li: 44
Sokol: 53
How he teamed up with the Oracle of Omaha:
Li: He met Charlie Munger, Berkshire Hathaway?s vice chairman and Buffett friend, on Thanksgiving Day in 2003, and the two hit it off immediately. Munger?s family poured an initial $50 million into a new value fund Li was starting.
Sokol: Berkshire bought MidAmerican, where Sokol was chairman and CEO, in 2000.
Biggest fans:
Li: Musician Sting told WSJ that Li is ?hardworking and clever?
Sokol: 'He gets more done in a day,' Buffett told Fortune, 'than probably I get done in a week, and I'm not kidding.'
Bold bet:
Li: BYD, again.
Sokol: He swooped in to save utility Constellation Energy from the brink of bankruptcy. Sokol pulled the Constellation CEO out of a board session by telling his assistant, 'If you don't interrupt the meeting, you might lose your job,' according to Fortune. Sokol struck a $4.7-billion deal to buy Constellation that was later topped by a French utility. Berkshire walked away with a $1.2 billion breakup fee.
Management Style:
Li: Unknown.
Sokol: He gives executives copies of his 129-page, self published book, ?Pleased but Not Satisfied,? that spells out his management philosophy. He also says in the book that he ranks each of his employees by the order in which he would fire them if forced to do so. He is out of bed before 5 am, runs five miles and lifts weights five days a week.
Critics:
Li: His track record is short, and BYD is his only major success. This year, his fund is down 13% at the end of the second quarter.
Sokol: NetJets Co-Founder Jim Jacobs said Sokols cost cutting has cost the company customers and left it a ?tiny shadow of what it was.
-By Shira Ovide
-0-
Copyright (c) 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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