Buffett's Ultimate Vote of Confidence in Berkshire Hathaway

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Is there life after Warren Buffett for Berkshire Hathaway(BRK.B) shareholders?

Sometimes the simplest, most easy to overlook answer to the most complex question can provide the most comfort to shareholders.

The existential crisis renewed this week by the revelation from Buffett that he has prostate cancer has brought concerns about his CEO succession plan back to the fore.

Look to the most recent annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. It's likely no coincidence that in the section of the letter concerning his succession plan, Buffett had this to say:

"Your Board is equally enthusiastic about my successor as CEO, an individual to whom they have had a great deal of exposure and whose managerial and human qualities they admire...When a transfer of responsibility is required, it will be seamless, and Berkshire's prospects will remain bright. More than 98% of my net worth is in Berkshire stock, all of which will go to various philanthropies. Being so heavily concentrated in one stock defies conventional wisdom. But I'm fine with this arrangement, knowing both the quality and diversity of the businesses we own and the caliber of the people who manage them."

The part that stands out in terms of Buffett's confidence in the succession plan isn't the general praise for the unknown successor and the board. It's the inclusion by Buffett in the succession discussion of his 98% net-worth in Berkshire stock.

Most CEOs of major corporations diversify at least to some extent, if not as much as possible, out of concentrated holdings in their company's shares. Buffett, on the other hand, has always said that the best holding period for an investment is forever, so maybe the 98% net-worth in Berkshire shares can be chalked up to being nothing more than a personal investment decision backing up that investing wisdom.

Buffett chooses his words carefully, though, and it doesn't seem like a coincidence that in a discussion of succession he chooses to mention his fortune's 98% concentration in Berkshire shares, as link it to a comment about the managers of his company's subsidiaries.

"Buffett has never sold a share," said David Rolfe, chief investment officer at Wedgewood Partners, which has Berkshire Hathaway as its second-largest holding.