Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, announced Saturday that he would retire as CEO by year’s end and requested that board members replace him with energy executive Greg Abel, according to reports.
Buffett, 94, made the shock announcement at Berkshire’s Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Neb., indicating the end of his 55-year run as CEO. Abel, 62, Berkshire’s vice chairman of non-insurance operations, is expected to take over, CNBC reported. Abel was designated as heir apparent back in 2021.
“Tomorrow, we’re having a board meeting of Berkshire, and we have 11 directors. Two of the directors, who are my children, Howie and Susie, know of what I’m going to talk about there. The rest of them, this will come as news to, but I think the time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year end,” Buffett told the 40,000 shareholders present near the end of the meeting, according to CNBC.
Buffett said he would “hang around”, the outlet reported. (RELATED: Investment Legend And Warren Buffett Partner Dies At 99)
“I could be helpful, I believe, in certain respects, if we ran into periods of great opportunity or anything,” he said.
Despite his age, Buffett held a question-and-answer session for four hours, during which he hailed Abel’s hands-on managerial approach and projected that the conglomerate would fare better under Abel’s leadership.
“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 told shareholders.
The announcement appeared to catch Abel by surprise, according to the outlet. The Edmonton-born Canadian joined Berkshire in 2000 on the back of his success with CalEnergy, having transformed the small geothermal energy company into a diversified energy business.
Abel said he would continue with Buffett’s philosophy of patient investing and would be ready to use some of Berkshire’s cash pile of $347 billion to claim any good investment opportunity.
Buffett, nicknamed the “Oracle of Omaha,” is the world’s fifth-richest man, according to Forbes. He reportedly first bought stock at 11 and, at 13, filed taxes for the first time.
Arguably the world’s most famous and respected investor according to Reuters, Buffett bought Berkshire in 1960 while it was a failing textile mill and transformed it into a conglomerate comprising dozens of companies. The former suit-lining manufacturing company grew under Buffett’s shrewd investment decision-making and leadership to become the first U.S. non-tech company to be valued at $1 trillion, according to the Washington Post.