Warren Buffett said Saturday he plans to hand over the reins at Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B, BRK-A) at year-end.
“I think it’s the time has arrived where Greg [Abel] should become the chief executive officer of the company at year-end,” said Buffett, who was chairing his 60th annual meeting. “And I want to spring that on the directors, effectively, and give that as my recommendation.”
Berkshire’s board is set to meet on Sunday, May 4.
Abel, currently vice chairman at Berkshire Hathaway who oversees the company’s operating businesses, had been tabbed as Buffett’s successor back in 2021.
Buffett said that he has no plans to sell any of his shares of Berkshire Hathaway as part of this transition. Buffett has served as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway since 1970. The company takes its name from the textile mill Buffett’s investment partnership acquired in 1965.
Since Buffett’s takeover of Berkshire, per-share value of the company has compounded at a 19.9% rate, almost double the 10.4% average annual gain of the S&P 500, and resulted in a 5,502,284% return for shareholders. Meaning $10,000 invested in Berkshire in 1965 is now worth over $500 million.
In 2025, Berkshire stock has outperformed the S&P 500 by a wide margin, rising some 17% this year against a 3% drop for the index.
Buffett after the long standing ovation he received after announcing his exit as CEO:
” The enthusiasm shown by that response can be interpreted in two ways, but I’ll take it” pic.twitter.com/LanKvGyKAX
— The Transcript (@TheTranscript_) May 3, 2025
Ahead of his announcement on Saturday, Buffett said he’d only discussed the decision with two members of the Berkshire board, his children Susie and Howard. Which means Abel was not clued in on the plan, either. The balance of the board will begin the discussion Sunday.
Check out Yahoo Finance’s live blog for full coverage of the 2025 Berkshire annual shareholders meeting
Buffett said he plans to let the board “think about what questions, or what structures, or anything [they have], and at the meeting following that, which will come in a few months, we’ll take action on whatever the view is of the 11 directors.”
“I think they’ll be unanimously in favor of it,” Buffett said. “And that would mean that at year-end, Greg would be the chief executive officer of Berkshire. I would still hang around, and could conceivably be useful in a few cases, but the final word would be what Greg said, in operations, in capital deployment, whatever it might be.”
Earlier in Saturday’s meeting, Abel talked at length about his view on Berkshire’s current prospects, in particular the more than $300 billion in cash the company is currently holding. Abel said this cash pile is an “enormous asset for the company.”
“We do recognize it as a strategic asset, and it allows us to weather the difficult times and and at the same and not be dependent on anybody,” Abel said, adding: “We will remain Berkshire, and we will never be dependent on a bank or some other party for Berkshire to be successful.”
At the end of the first quarter, Berkshire’s cash holdings were just over $347 billion, up from $334 billion at the end of 2024 and nearly double the $188 billion held at this time last year.
Greg Abel joined Berkshire Hathaway as part of an acquisition of what became Berkshire Hathaway Energy back in 1999. Abel was named CEO of that subsidiary, then called MidAmerican, in 2008.
In 2018, Abel was named vice chairman at Berkshire, leading its non-insurance operations.
In his 2014 annual letter to shareholders, Buffett wrote, “Both the board and I believe we now have the right person to succeed me as CEO — a successor ready to assume the job the day after I die or step down. In certain important respects, this person will do a better job than I am doing.”
The same year, Charlie Munger, Buffett’s longtime right-hand man who died in 2023 at 99 years old, wrote that Jain and Abel, “are proven performers who would probably be under-described as ‘world-class.'”
“In some important ways,” Munger added, “each is a better business executive than Buffett.”
In his 2006 annual letter to shareholders, Buffett wrote about the qualities he expected will be necessary in his successor at Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett said the company had identified three “outstanding” candidates to take his place if need be. It’s unlikely Abel was one of them at that time.
“Picking the right person(s) will not be an easy task,” Buffett wrote.
“It’s not hard, of course, to find smart people, among them individuals who have impressive investment records. But there is far more to successful longterm investing than brains and performance that has recently been good.
“Over time, markets will do extraordinary, even bizarre, things. A single, big mistake could wipe out a long string of successes. We therefore need someone genetically programmed to recognize and avoid serious risks, including those never before encountered. Certain perils that lurk in investment strategies cannot be spotted by use of the models commonly employed today by financial institutions.
“Temperament is also important. Independent thinking, emotional stability, and a keen understanding of both human and institutional behavior is vital to long-term investment success. I’ve seen a lot of very smart people who have lacked these virtues.
“Finally, we have a special problem to consider: our ability to keep the person we hire. Being able to list Berkshire on a resume would materially enhance the marketability of an investment manager. We will need, therefore, to be sure we can retain our choice, even though he or she could leave and make much more money elsewhere.”
Crucially, Munger wrote in 2014, “I believe neither Jain nor Abel would (1) leave Berkshire, no matter what someone else offered or (2) desire much change in the Berkshire system.”
Beginning in 2026, a new era of Berkshire Hathaway will test these statements.
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