Buffett says investors shouldn’t act on headlines

Buffett was asked about his eventual successor at Berkshire during an interview on Fox Business Network later Monday. The questions are coming up because Buffett is 81 years old and was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer although the disease is not expected to threaten his health.

Buffett is keeping secret the identity of the person likely to succeed him as Berkshire’s CEO but is narrowing the field _ he says the top choice and two backups are men.

Buffett has said Berkshire’s board has chosen his successor, but doesn’t want to name him because the choice could change. He expects his successor will maintain the company culture.

“My successor doesn’t need apprenticing,” Buffett said. “If they needed apprenticing they wouldn’t be the successor candidate. None of the three would need apprenticing.”

Buffett addressed a number of other topics during Monday’s interviews:

_ Buffett was asked about the inaccuracies in Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson’s biography. Buffett said he doesn’t know the details, but it doesn’t appear that this was an “inadvertent error” so Yahoo’s board may have to act. “If you cannot trust the people you’re working with, you have a problem.”

_ The reports Buffett sees from Berkshire’s businesses show there has been some small improvement in housing construction this year. He says he’s not sure how strong the housing trend is, but the overall economy is improving. “Our businesses are getting better, but they’re getting better at a slow pace.”

_ Buffett said he believes the Keystone XL pipeline that TransCanada wants to build to carry Canadian oil south across the Great Plains and Nebraska should be built. The company recently reapplied for a permit to build the pipeline after revising a new route through Nebraska to avoid the Sandhills. “I’m not an expert, but it generally sounds like it makes sense,” he said.

_ Buffett said the U.S. government probably needs to rein in spending and increase tax revenue, but neither political party is ready to do that in an election year. “The problem is in this political environment is no one wants to go first,” he said.

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Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: www.berkshirehathaway.com

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