Politics
Warren Buffett Steps Down As Berkshire Hathaway CEO
Warren Buffett announced Saturday that he will be stepping down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway by the end of the year. The billionaire investor named Greg Abel, who currently serves as vice chairman, as his successor.
“I think the time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive of the company at year end,” Buffett said at Berkshire’s annual meeting. Abel, 62, has served as the firm’s vice chair since 2018.
Buffett, 94, said he would “hang around” the conglomerate after he steps down as CEO, according to a report from CNBC. The investment guru said he has no plans to sell his shares of Berkshire Hathaway, which are expected to be donated after his death.
“I would add this, 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,” Buffett said during the meeting.
Buffett speaks with the White House in 2010
After making his announcement, the investor received a lengthy standing ovation in honor of 60 years of tenure with the company, CNBC reported.
Buffett has long been prepping Abel, who joined the firm’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy in 1992 when it was then known as MidAmerican Energy, eight years before it was taken over by Berkshire. “The directors are in agreement that if something were to happen to me tonight, it would be Greg who’d take over tomorrow morning,” Buffett told CNBC in 2021.
Buffett took over Berkshire Hathaway in 1965 with business partner Charlie Munger, which at the time was a failing textile company. Munger passed away in 2023.
As of 2025, the conglomerate is worth more than $1 trillion, while Buffett boasts a net worth of more than $168 billion. The billionaire has long lived a modest lifestyle at his Nebraska home he bought for $31,500 in 1958., however.
His son, Howard, is also expected to succeed him as non-executive chairman of Berkshire.
