Is Sokol Still Running Things at Berkshire?

Berkshire's March 30 press release included a message from Buffett that said (emphasis added), "Late in the day of March 28th I received a letter of resignation from Dave, delivered by his assistant...I had not asked for his resignation, and it came as a surprise to me... I did not attempt to talk him out of resigning and accepted his resignation. Effective with Dave's resignation, Greg Abel" will run MidAmerican, and then other management changes were given. 

There is one thing missing from this announcement: according to Mid-American's Form 8-K filed (Berkshire has not yet filed an 8-K), Sokol is not leaving until April 21st. 

This raises an intriguing new list of questions. 

> Why is Sokol still at Berkshire and (at least not announced so far as) on administrative leave? What was the reasoning behind that decision?

> Is Sokol actually participating in the leadership and management of companies of which he remains chairman (MidAmerican, NetJets, Johns Manville)? If so, is that appropriate? 

> Why didn't the press release mention his departure date? Upon a second and third reading, it seems to almost have skirted around this subject that is actually a pretty standard element of a resignation press release. 

> Berkshire stated that the departure was not linked to the stock trades, so perhaps the April 21st date was specifically meant to align with the sort of transition that would take place under "normal" circumstances. But if so, why not disclose it?

> April 21st also is an odd date. What happens on April 21st? Why not April 15 or 30? 

> This is another example of a point I have made many times: Buffett is extremely precise and literal in everything he writes. If he says "Effective with Dave's resignation," it does not mean Dave's resignation is effective. However, readers might easily have gotten that impression. Mea culpa for not having picked up on this earlier. Of all people I should have noticed it.

> Lastly, these points have made me wonder about Sokol's compensation. He made $14 million in 2008 as chairman of MidAmerican, which had come down to $2 million in 2010 while he was effectively working almost full time for NetJets. We don't know what he was getting paid by Johns Manville and NetJets and thus don't know his total compensation. How much will he be paid in 2011? Would it have made any difference if he had departed on March 28th versus sometime in the second quarter? Is there any element of his compensation that is discretionary? If so, how much will he receive, and when will that be decided? I am very curious about the answers to these questions. By way of comparison, many if not most of the Berkshire managers make only $1 million or not much more than that. As Buffett puts it, they're not working for the money. Sokol's compensation was one of the, if not the, highest at Berkshire.