2024-09-15
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once praised by warren buffett asberkshirethe most important person, even more important than buffett himself, ajit jain, may be gradually becoming "alienated" from the company.
the latest announcement on september 9 showed that jain, vice chairman of berkshire and head of insurance business, sold 200 shares of berkshire's class a shares, cashing in us$139 million.
after the sale, jain was left with only 60 shares of berkshire class a stock and several holdings in trust.
jain's selling action is very unusual among the berkshire investment team, which is characterized by "loyalty" and "lifelong work", and it also makes the outside world quite concerned about his next move.
jain was born in sundargarh, odisha, india in 1951 and graduated from the prestigious indian institute of technology in 1972 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering.
the indian institute of technology is known for its science and engineering, and is world-famous for its acceptance rate of less than 1%, which is enough to illustrate jain's intelligence.
after graduating from college, jain joinedIBMhe worked as a salesperson in the indian data processing department and was named the region's best rookie of the year in his first year. however, he lost his job in 1976 when ibm withdrew from the indian market due to policy changes.
in 1978, jain moved to the united states and obtained a master of business administration from harvard university. he then joined mckinsey. almost at the same time, jain married an indian bride and his family settled in the united states after marriage.
in 1986, jain left mckinsey and started to manage insurance business for buffett. also engaged in this business was his "mentor" michael goldberg, who was 40 years old at the time.
but jain is clearly more favored by buffett. he was promoted to vice chairman of berkshire in 2018, in charge of insurance business.
berkshire has always had only one star - warren buffett. if there is anyone who can share the glory, it is charlie munger.
but in fact, there are two other people who have made great contributions to the company.
one is jaan.
one is greg abel.
both were once the leading candidates to succeed buffett as chairman of berkshire.
the two also each have their own key businesses under their charge. jain is in charge of the company's cash cow insurance industry, providing buffett with a steady stream of "float".
abel is in charge of energy, railways, retail and investment businesses.
but as we all know, berkshire's investment has only one "boss" - buffett. therefore, the outside world has always doubted abel's ability.
buffett himself has long remained tight-lipped about the future chairman of berkshire, which has led to a de facto competition between jain and abel.
however, abel prevailed in the end.
starting three years ago, berkshire has increasingly allowed abel to appear in public. at the 2024 shareholders' meeting, he even replaced the recently deceased munger and sat with buffett to answer shareholders' questions.
but for jain, a talented, long-time berkshire employee, the reality is crystal clear.
although far less thanmicrosoftnadella, the ceo of , is famous, but jain's net worth may be much higher than nadella.
according to the latest estimates from overseas business magazines, nadella's net worth is around $320 million.
jain only sold part of his berkshire holdings and had $139 million, and that was only part of jain's income.
according to berkshire's official documents, jain can receive a base salary of $16 million and a bonus of $3 million from berkshire each year, totaling approximately $19 million.
in addition, jain still owns 166 class a shares of berkshire and 124,800 class b shares.
with a share price of nearly $700,000 for class a shares and around $450 for class b shares, the combined value of the two exceeds $170 million.
a careful analysis also reveals that jain already has a number of shareholding platforms outside of berkshire, which is not only his future inheritance distribution mechanism, but also provides him with the possibility of multiple options in the future.
for example, there is a trust scheme called "indrima jain trusts" with 17 class a shares as the beneficiary. the settlor is jain's spouse, and after further penetration, the underlying beneficiaries are jain's descendants;
another 38 shares belong to a trust plan set up by jain himself, and his descendants are also the ultimate beneficiaries.
another 50 shares were awarded to a nonprofit called the jain foundation inc., which helps treat patients with muscular dystrophy, a disease caused by a protein deficiency.
it is worth mentioning that the establishment of this organization is related to jain's son.
jain's son suffers from this rare disease, which occurs in about 8 to 10 people per million, and there is almost no funding from traditional channels. in view of this, jain established this foundation to provide research and cure support.
in addition, jain has no voting rights.berkshire bthere is also some "thought" in the arrangement of stocks.
as of now, jain holds 466 class b shares (the part in the red box), and the indirect beneficiary of up to 124,300 class b shares is "jain foundation inc.", which is the foundation for the treatment of rare diseases mentioned above.
although all parties seem to have chosen abel as buffett's successor, historical cases show that such successors are not stable.
in fact, when it comes to choosing berkshire's successor, there was another "designated successor" before abel - sokol.
sokol was once responsible for berkshire's energy company investments, but eventually took the initiative to resign to buffett. however, there have been rumors in the industry that sokol had to leave berkshire in disgrace due to insider trading in the purchase of lubrizol shares and being reported.
perhaps, everything is still uncertain.
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