Well, that didn’t take long. A week ago the WSJ reported that Federal prosecutors were requesting the resignation of General Re CEO Joe Brandon; today it happened, despite Brandon’s having the strong support of his boss, Warren Buffett.
I don’t think this is a huge blow to General Re or to Berkshire Hathaway: Tad Montross, the former president and now CEO of General Re, knows the business intimately, while Berkshire’s reinsurance superstar, Ajit Jain, remains solidly in place. Still, it does seem that Buffett caved. I’d’ve done the same, though: especially when you’re trying to set up a new municipal reinsurer, you don’t want to antagonize any arm of the federal government.