John Hopkins of InvestedCentral.com has an interesting take on CNBC‘s coverage Thursday of the sudden departure of a Berkshire Hathaway executive being groomed to succeed Warren Buffett given that the business news network’s Becky Quick has cultivated a strong relationship with Buffett.
Hopkins writes, “Now, if you listen to the the 30 minute interview conducted by Quick and Joe Kernan with Sokol, it will make it look like he made his own decision to leave the company because he never thought he could fill Buffet’s shoes and wants to start his own mini ‘Berkshire’ type fund. Really? How many people do you know who would turn down the opportunity to take over a company like Berkshire? So, it’s likely more than coincidental that Sokol stepped down and at the same time the details of his questionable purchase of Lubrizol came to light, given that the successful Berkshire acquisition of the company could put $3 million in his pocket.
“Quick and Kernan actually asked some pretty tough and direct questions of Sokol, including the questionable timing of his purchases of the stock. But, when is the last time you saw CNBC take a full half hour to conduct an interview prime time prior to the market open? That’s most likely a courtesy to Buffet, to try to nip this in the bud quickly. Even if Sokol ultimately ends up getting skewered by the SEC.
“It brings up the question; how objective can CNBC be when they cherish a continuing relationship with Buffet? Quick has a gold mine with Buffet at her disposal for on-air interviews; it doesn’t get much better than that. Thus, one has to take with a grain of salt this entire interview. Except, that is, Buffet, as he got out of Quick and CNBC exactly what he needed; an on air crucifixion of someone he no longer needs.”
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