Buffett: Bermuda trip had nothing to do with CEO’s firing
Bermuda is off the hook as the reason an international paint company CEO was canned after he hosted a lavish boat party on the Island.A New York Post article in mid June reported that Denis Abrams, the CEO of Benjamin Moore paint company owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, was ousted after word spread that he held a soiree for senior executives aboard a yacht in Bermuda. The party, it was reported, could have been the final straw leading to Mr Abrams’ dismissal.But according to a letter from Mr Buffet himself, obtained by Dow Jones Newswires, the Bermuda get-away trip was not the reason.“The recent story coupling a top management convocation on a boat with the decision to make a management change at Benjamin Moore is completely false,” Mr Buffett wrote in the letter to Mr Abrams. “I had never heard of the boat trip prior to reading about it in the paper on June 14. There was no reason for you to let me know about the meeting and, if you had, I would have had no objection to it at all.”According to Dow Jones, Mr Buffet said the reason for Mr Abrams’ removal “was based on a differing view about distribution channels and brand strategy”.