Berkshire Hathaway's Ajit Jain sells over half of his class A shares

By Alexandre Rajbhandari

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s vice chair of insurance operations, Ajit Jain, sold $139 million worth of his Class A shares in Warren Buffett’s conglomerate.
 

Jain, one of Buffett’s top lieutenants, disposed of 200 of the Class A shares for about $695,418 each, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday. The disposal means the longterm executive is left with control of 166 such shares, 61 of which he directly owns. 
 

When reached by phone, Jain declined to comment. Berkshire Hathaway didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
 

The executive joined Berkshire Hathaway in 1986 to work on the conglomerate’s insurance operations, which include car insurer GEICO. 
 

Buffett has long praised Jain, saying in 2017 that he’s probably made more money for Berkshire than Buffett has. In 2018, Jain and Greg Abel were named vice chairmen of the firm, with Abel, who’s a decade younger than Jain, eventually being tapped as Buffett’s successor. 
 

Investors have questioned whether Jain would stick around to help Abel run things once Buffett, now 94, leaves the firm.