Warren Buffett intends to step down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after 55 years, ending his tenure as the longest-serving chief executive of an S&P 500 company.
The legendary investor announced he would recommend to Berkshire’s board that he resign as CEO at the end of this year. He broke the news to a stadium full of his shareholders during Berkshire’s annual meeting in Omaha on Saturday. The crowd gave Buffett two standing ovations and recognized his many years of service with thunderous applause.
“The enthusiasm shown by this response can be interpreted in two ways,” Buffett joked, before adding, “Thank you.”
If Buffett gets his way, Greg Abel, the head of Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses, will be in charge of the conglomerate in the new year.
Buffett, 94, purchased Berkshire when it was a failing New England textile mill in 1965. Over the past six decades, he’s grown it into a $1 trillion conglomerate that owns scores of businesses, including Geico, See’s Candies, and the BNSF Railway, and holds multibillion-dollar stakes in Coca-Cola, American Express, and other public companies.
The “Oracle of Omaha” oversaw a roughly 5,500,000% gain in Berkshire’s Class A stock between 1965 and 2024, compared to around 39,000% for the S&P 500 as a whole. Berkshire shares compounded in value by an average of 19.9% annually for that period, more than double the benchmark’s 10.4% gain.
The ballooning stock price has made Buffett phenomenally wealthy. Even after giving more than half of his shares to good causes, he now ranks as the world’s fifth-richest person with a $169 billion net worth.
Buffett is leaving the CEO role on a high note. Berkshire stock has soared 20% this year to record levels, trouncing the S&P’s 3% decline. Investors are banking on Buffett’s steady hand to guide them through the market and economic turmoil stirred up by President Donald Trump’s tariffs. They’re also betting on perhaps the world’s foremost bargain hunter to pounce on any bargain stocks and businesses that emerge, as he famously did during the 2008 financial crisis.
Once Buffett vacates his chair, Abel will have the unenviable task of succeeding one of the great business leaders in American history, who has become virtually synonymous with his company. He can expect intense scrutiny of his decisions from all corners, and endless comparisons to a predecessor who ruled the roost for nearly six decades.
Buffett will be remembered as a CEO for building one of the world’s most valuable companies, creating tremendous wealth for his investors, nurturing a unique shareholder culture centered on long-term ownership, and inspiring legions of investors and executives with his lessons on investing, business, management, and life.
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