Warren Buffett’s unexpected decision to step down as head of Berkshire Hathaway has left many curious about his chosen successor and how he plans to uphold the investing legacy of the “Oracle of Omaha.”
The company announced on Monday that its board had voted unanimously for Greg Abel, vice chairman of non-insurance operations, to take charge of Berkshire as of January 1, 2026, in line with the recommendation Buffett made at Saturday’s shareholder meeting.
Why It Matters
While Berkshire Hathaway has confirmed that Buffett, 94, will remain Chairman of the Board of Directors following his retirement, Abel will soon be principally responsible for safeguarding the company’s direction, reputation, and the billions of dollars under its management. With 400,000 employees, a portfolio valued at nearly $270 billion and a market capitalization of around $1 trillion, Abel will be taking the reins of one of the world’s most revered and successful firms.
His leadership also follows Buffett’s 60-year tenure as Berkshire’s chief, during which he delivered an estimated 5.5 million-percent return to investors, according to CNN, while also carving out a reputation as the one of the world’s most famed and respected investing authorities.
Who Is Greg Abel?
Abel, 62, graduated from the University of Alberta in 1984, before beginning his career as a chartered accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). He joined Berkshire in 2000 after the firm bought a controlling interest in MidAmerican Energy where Abel was president.
Since 2018, he has served as Berkshire’s vice chair of non-insurance operations, which according to The New York Times comprises 189 businesses that include Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Fruit of the Loom, Dairy Queen and BSNF, the largest freight railroad in the United States.
Abel emerged as Buffett’s heir apparent years ago and, following the death of Vice Chairman Charlie Munger in 2023, has routinely joined him on stage at annual shareholder meetings.
“The most likely successor in our view, who Warren Buffett regularly praises, is Greg Abel,” one JPMorgan Chase analyst wrote in 2017. “We think Greg Abel would be a strong allocator of capital and the earning power of the underlying businesses would remain strong after Buffett.”
In 2021, Buffett himself named Abel as his chosen replacement, telling CNBC: “The directors are in agreement that if something were to happen to me tonight it would be Greg who’d take over tomorrow morning.”
“At 94, it won’t be long before Greg Abel replaces me as CEO and will be writing the annual letters,” Buffett wrote in Berkshire’s 2024 annual report.
What People Are Saying
Billionaire Warren Buffett, during Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting on Saturday, said: “I think the time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year-end.”
He added: “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.”
Greg Abel, earlier in the meeting, said: “I love thinking of Warren truly as a teacher and I get the opportunity to continue to learn every day. Warren and I have strong dialogue every week and we’re always talking around opportunities in Berkshire or things that are going on globally or in the US, and each one’s truly a learning moment.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday: “There’s never been someone like Warren, and countless people, myself included, have been inspired by his wisdom. It’s been one of the great privileges of my life to know him. And there’s no question that Warren is leaving Berkshire in great hands with Greg.”
What Happens Next?
At Saturday’s meeting, Abel said his approach to overseeing Berkshire’s subsidiary companies is “more active” than Buffett’s, “but hopefully in a very positive way.”
Meanwhile, Buffett has named his son, Howard, to be his eventual successor as chair.
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