In an interview with 60 Minutes that will air this Sunday, Warren Buffett announces his choice of son Howard – or "Howie", as he's known in the family – as his successor at Berkshire Hathaway.

The elder Buffett tells interviewer Leslie Stahl that his son will serve as a "guardian" of the company's "values" rather than a CEO, as long as the company's board approves. When America's second richest person Buffett Sr. dies, 56-year-old Howard will be "non-executive chairman", an unpaid position.

Howie won't direct strategy at the multi-billion-dollar investment firm, and he'll keep his day job as a corn and soybean farmer. (His own son Howard W. Buffett is also a farmer, and one of Forbes' Names You Need To Know for 2011.)

"You worry that somebody will be in charge of Berkshire that uses it as their own sandbox in some way," Buffett explains to Stahl in Sunday's interview.

"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."

For his part, Howie doesn't think he'll be called upon to take over any time soon. "He won't leave until he's buried in the ground," he says of his dad, who is healthy at age 81.

Berkshire Hathaway's stock price has remained largely unchanged in the hours since the announcement, possibly due to the non-executive nature of Howie's future role. Shares in the Omaha, Nebraska firm trade at over $100,000 apiece.

在于上周日播出的《60分鐘》訪談欄目中，沃倫•巴菲特宣布，他已選定兒子霍華德成為自己在伯克希爾•哈撒韋公司中的繼承人。霍華德在家族中被稱為“Howie”。

老巴菲特告訴采訪者萊斯利•斯塔爾，只要董事會批準，霍華德今后就將成為公司“價值”的“守護者”，而不是首席執(zhí)行官。將來美國第二富豪巴菲特去世后，現(xiàn)年56歲的霍華德將出任“非執(zhí)行總裁”一職，但沒有薪水。

霍華德不會參與這家資產(chǎn)數(shù)十億美元的投資公司的戰(zhàn)略決策，并且他平常仍然是種植大豆和玉米的農(nóng)場主。（霍華德的兒子霍華德•W•巴菲特也在“務農(nóng)”，他還上榜《福布斯》2011年度值得關(guān)注人物）。

沃倫•巴菲特向采訪者斯塔爾解釋說：“大家會擔心掌管伯克希爾•哈撒韋公司的人會以某種方式為他們自己牟利。”

“這會影響那些和股東利益相關(guān)的決策。發(fā)生這種情況的幾率非常，非常，非常低，但是有霍華德在，就又增加了一層保險。”

對霍華德來說，他不覺得自己會很快走馬上任。他說：“他會一直干到入土。”沃倫•巴菲特今年81歲，還非常健康。

巴菲特宣布這一決定后，伯克希爾•哈撒韋公司的股價一直保持平穩(wěn)，這很可能是由于霍華德未來角色的“非執(zhí)行”性質(zhì)。目前這家位于內(nèi)布拉斯加州奧馬哈市的公司股價超過10萬美元。