Last week, American Express held a briefing for its largest and certainly most famous investor, Warren Buffett. From what I understand, senior management at Amex spent a substantial amount of time getting Buffett up to speed on the company's progress.That's just something you do, it seems, when the investor owns $344 million worth of your stock.
At some point during the briefing, with all the talk about Buffett's health in the press recently, the discussion apparently turned to succession. My good friend Eric Feldstein, who is an executive vice president at American Express, asked the Wizard of Omaha whether it was true, as was rumored, that he had given the Berkshire Hathaway board of directors a sealed envelope with the name of his successor to be opened upon Buffett's death.
Buffett teasingly told Feldstein, yes, the envelope does, in fact, exist. Naturally, Feldstein asked what was written on the sheet of paper in the envelope.
"You really want to know?" Buffett is said to have asked Feldstein.
Feldstein answered yes.
"If you really want to know, it says, 'Check my pulse again,'" Buffett said.
Now, this is a lovely story, but there is something deeper here. For all his homespun, hokey-ness, Buffett under the surface would appear to be a hardworking bloke, someone who takes great pride in his job and wants to continue working ad infinitum. The fact that his hard-working ethos touches American Express deserves note, too. At the center of American Express's ongoing plans is its Serve mobile payments initiative. With Buffett looking over its shoulder, the Serve project appears to be continuing, and that's good for the company's long-term prospects.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.