After moving to Omaha, investor Combs looks for 'executive support'

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Todd Combs has been making investments for Berkshire Hathaway Inc. for nearly a year, one of two handpicked money managers that Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett trusts to handle a few billion dollars each out of Berkshire's $60 billion-plus investment portfolio.

Combs was a Connecticut resident in October 2010 when Buffett announced his selection, and the initial report was that he would stay there while working for Berkshire.

But a job posting for an assistant in Omaha was a clue: Combs now resides in Omaha, and although he has remained a low-profile person in town, he's busy enough that he needs a hand beyond Berkshire's existing staff.

Duties for the Combs "executive support" position include coordinating schedules, preparing letters, maintaining contacts, screening phone calls, handling incoming mail, coordinating travel, preparing for meetings, general clerical tasks, assisting in special projects and handling confidential material.

One unadvertised aspect of the job, if you get it: Your income tax rate will probably be higher than Buffett's.

Succession plan

For now, Warren Buffett will keep investing, and Howard Buffett will keep farming.

But according to the profile of Howard Buffett to be aired tonight on CBS's "60 Minutes," the current and future chairmen of Berkshire, respectively, are on the same page as far as the company's succession plan.

"Well, you worry that somebody will be in charge of Berkshire that uses it as their own ... sandbox in some way," Warren Buffett says on the program. "That changes the way that ... decisions are made in reference to the shareholders. ... The odds of that happening are very, very, very low. But having Howie there adds just one extra layer of protection."

Warren said his son may not know the daily details of Berkshire's operations but understands the value of the company, and Howard is fine with not making its investment decisions.

"Well, as long as I can keep farming, I'm OK," Howard said. As for his father, "he won't leave until he's buried in the ground. I hate to put it that way."

Comments on W-H deal

Berkshire's forthcoming purchase of The World-Herald brought plenty of online comments, including some by shareholders saying Buffett should use his own money for the $200 million deal rather than Berkshire's. They reason that The World-Herald may not provide a good return on the shareholders' money, and note that Buffett said he bought the newspaper partly to support a city and a newspaper he loves.

A couple of comments on the issue from Omaha.com:

>> "I'm a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder. While I don't have any plans on selling shares, I don't understand this purchase completely. But Berk makes over 1B a month, so a few even wrong moves are acceptable in the big scheme of things." — moriarty

>> From Tuesday's weekly live chat at Omaha.com/buffett: "I am surprised he didn't buy the paper personally. The purchase doesn't jibe with his comments about the newspaper businesses prospects. It looks like he is using the company to do something personal." — CHL

Buffett has said he wants to continue local control of the newspaper for as long as possible, and he realizes that Berkshire is more permanent than he is. And he said he expects good, but not great, returns on the investment.

Solar deal questioned

Some analysts heaped on praise, but count former journalist and energy consultant Bill Paul as one raising questions about the purchase of the Topaz solar energy farm in California by Berkshire's MidAmerican Energy Holdings division.

"I wouldn't make that deal," said Paul, a former Wall Street Journal reporter from Westfield, N.J., now billed as a "financial thought leader" on cable TV.

MidAmerican announced last week that it signed an agreement to buy the plant from First Solar Inc. Installing the plant is a $2 billion job, but the purchase price wasn't disclosed.

The undisclosed price makes it tough to judge the dollar value of the project, Paul said, and a 25-year purchase contract for the plant's electricity may assure a "decent" return for MidAmerican.

But the risk lies in solar power technology itself, which is rapidly advancing, he said.

Inventors are developing new material that will harvest nonvisible parts of the light spectrum, including some that could generate electricity at night, he said. Companies are testing house paint and roofing material that will feed electricity into the home. Rooftop solar generators will be more efficient and affordable.

"That would render First Solar's technology passé, in my book," Paul said. "There's no question that solar has a future. I'm just not sure what the form will be."

But Giles Parkinson and Sophie Vorrath write on Climate Spectator, a website that follows the science and politics of climate change, that the purchase is "perfectly timed" because Topaz's electricity purchase agreement is good and it still qualifies for federal tax incentives.

Filing mistake

Peter Bruno of Boca Raton, Fla., said he wasn't trying to mislead anyone when he called a new investment fund Warren Buffett Holdings LLC. But that name is gone now, he said, because a "mistake" resulted in an official filing under the name Warren Buffet LLC, with one "t." So he withdrew the filing and gave the fund a non-Buffett name.

Some observers had complained, telling Investment News that the one-t version looked like an attempt to confuse potential investors into thinking Buffett himself is directly involved in the fund.

While admitting the filing mistake, Bruno defended his original choice of Buffett's name, saying the plan was to invest the fund's money in some of the same stocks chosen by Buffett, narrowed down by Bruno's separate analysis.

Contact the writer:

402-444-1080, steve.jordon@owh.com

twitter.com/buffettOWH

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