Best wishes and all. But given Berkshire's scale, and the son's age (71), questions about the next succession plan seem appropriate.

Also, since the NYT says nothing else about the son: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Graham_Buffett In context, his recent involvement in local politics seems rather odd.

So after all no one could be trusted

People take what he does and says as gospel so knowing he went with monarchy tier nepotism is going to be very annoying.

I guess Warren’s quote only applies to other people, not him. "It’s like choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold-medal winners in the 2000 Olympics." (https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/14/us/dozens-of-rich-america...)

Buffett has been planning this since at least 2011:

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Warren Buffett has told the CBS News program "60 Minutes" that after he dies, he wants his son to become non-executive chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. Howard Buffett, a farmer with no college degree, would be a good successor, the elder Buffett said, because he understands the values of the company.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/warren-buffett-wants-farmer...

Sat on a couple of boards and the non exec chair mostly just guards the culture and can fire the CEO. Abel runs the business. That's a very different job from Howard's.

Many people do not know this but he still holds the stock that he first bought as a 13y old. It is now worth 8+ figures!