At the close of 2025, Buffet announced at the group’s annual shareholder meeting that he would step down as CEO, handing over the reins to vice chairman Greg Abel, who had already been tasked with his appointment.
At the meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, Buffett said, “I would still hang around and could conceivably be useful in a few cases. The final word would be what Greg said in terms of operations, in capital deployment, or whatever it may be.”
The board of directors would “unanimously support” his recommendation, he added.
Without Buffett’s intervention, Abel arrived about an hour later to lead a formal Berkshire business meeting. He said, “I just want to say that as we move forward, I couldn’t be more humbled and honoured to be a part of Berkshire.”
Abel, 62, has been in charge of non-insurance operations at the company since 2018, and he was expected to succeed Buffett as CEO in 2021, but it was always assumed he would not succeed him until after Buffett’s passing.
Buffett, 94, has always maintained that he has no plans to retire. He has been referred to as the “Oracle of Omaha” because of his influence in business and financial circles.
His resignation comes at the end of a remarkable 60-year run that saw him transform Berkshire from a failing textile company into a $ 1.16 trillion conglomerate with $300bn in liquid assets.
According to Forbes magazine’s real-time rich list, Buffett’s net worth as of Saturday was $ 168.2 billion. He pledged to continue investing in the business on Saturday.
“I have no intention of selling a Berkshire Hathaway share,” I declare. Buffett remarked, “I will give it away eventually.”
Because I believe Greg’s management will have better chances of keeping every share, he said, “the decision to keep every share is an economic decision.”
Buffett drew attention to the dire consequences of President Donald Trump’s tariffs earlier on Saturday, stating that “trade should not be a weapon” but “there is no denying that trade can be an act of war.”
Source: Aljazeera
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