Buffett joins Twitter, gains 1,000 followers a minute

NEW YORK: Warren Buffett accumulates Twitter followers even faster than he makes money.
The 82-year-old “Oracle of Omaha” joined the service and sent his first tweet on Thursday, picking up more than 45,000 followers in just under 45 minutes.
“Warren is in the house,” Buffett said under the handle “@WarrenBuffett.”
The handle was not officially verified by Twitter, but was confirmed by Fortune magazine, which hosted Buffett for a live webcast. It was billed as the first social media event for the notoriously technology-averse billionaire.
If followers were dollars, Buffett is having even more success on Twitter than he had with one of his best investments ever, his 2008 stake in Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
That deal gave him preferred stock that paid dividends at $ 900 a minute.
On Twitter, he has gathered 1,000 followers a minute.
By joining Twitter, the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. chief executive officer now stands in good mogul company.
Other relatively recent converts to the service include News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch (@RupertMurdoch) and former US President Bill Clinton (@BillClinton).
Buffett also says investors shouldn’t worry about his successor, just as he isn’t concerned about who will next lead the companies in which he invests billions of dollars.
He talked about succession planning in interview on the Fox Business Network.
Berkshire has billions invested in the stock of Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo and IBM, and Buffett says he has no idea who the next CEOs will be.
Buffett says Berkshire’s board knows who it would pick as CEO if he died tonight, but the top candidates could change over time.
Buffett has no plans to retire.