Moody's terms Sokol's resignation 'credit negative' for Berkshire

Berkshire Hathaway executive David Sokol’s resignation points to “governance challenges” at the company and may affect its credit quality, Moody’s Investors Service has said.

“The recent developments are credit negative for Berkshire,” Moody’s analysts. led by Bruce Ballentine, said on Friday. “More broadly, the events underscore governance challenges at Berkshire that could impact credit quality.”

Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett, also head of investments, is preparing Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire for his eventual departure. The 80-year-old billionaire is losing one of his top managers in Sokol, who resigned this week as it was revealed that he bought stock in a company he had targeted as a takeover candidate.

Sokol bought about 96,000 Lubrizol Corp shares in January, less than two weeks before recommending Berkshire acquire the company, Buffett, had said.