Investing.com -- Berkshire Hathaway B (NYSE:BRKb) shares opened Monday premarket trading 2% lower as investors reacted to Warren Buffett’s Saturday announcement to step down as CEO at the end of 2025.
Buffett’s decision concludes a legendary six-decade run that turned him into one of the most iconic investors in history. He will hand over leadership to Vice Chairman Greg Abel, marking a major transition at the helm of the $1.16 trillion conglomerate.
“I think the time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year end,” Buffett, 94, said on Saturday during the close of Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting in Omaha. He added that while he would "hang around and conceivably be useful in a few cases," the “final word” would belong to Abel.
The announcement, which came as a surprise to many, drew immediate praise from investors and executives reflecting on Buffett’s legacy. While Abel has long been named as Buffett’s successor, the timing of the transition had not been previously disclosed.
Buffett said most of the board and Abel himself were not informed ahead of time, though he had shared his decision with his two children who serve as directors.
Abel, 62, was appointed vice chairman in 2018 and identified as the heir apparent in 2021. While not a public figure in the same way as Buffett, he is widely seen as someone who will uphold Berkshire’s values and decentralized structure.
Buffett emphasized he has no plans to part with his Berkshire holdings. “The decision to keep every share is an economic decision because I think the prospects of Berkshire will be better under Greg’s management than mine,” he said. Nearly all of his $168.2 billion fortune, as estimated by Forbes, is in Berkshire stock and will be donated after his death.
Buffett’s departure marks the end of an era that began in 1965, when he took over a struggling textile company and, alongside his close friend and longtime partner Charlie Munger, transformed it into a vast holding company with stakes across the U.S. economy.
Headquartered in Omaha, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) today owns close to 200 businesses, ranging from Geico and BNSF Railway to Dairy Queen, Fruit of the Loom, and See’s Candies.
As of March, it also held $264 billion in publicly traded stocks, including Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO), and Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC).