OMAHA (dpa-AFX) - An era comes to an end as billionaire investor Warren Buffett is preparing to step down as Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chief Executive Officer on December 31, 2025.
As announced earlier, Buffett, who headed the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate since 1965, will be succeeded by Greg Abel when he takes the reins on January 1, 2026. Buffett will remain the Chairman of the Board of Directors, concluding his six-decade leadership of the company.
Abel, 62, joined Berkshire Hathaway's Board of Directors in January 2018 as vice chair - non-insurance operations. He has been with Berkshire for 25 years and was identified as Buffett's likely replacement in 2021.
In a November letter to the shareholders, Buffett said that Abel has more than met the high expectations he had for him when first thought about him being Berkshire's next CEO. 'He understands many of our businesses and personnel far better than I now do, and he is a very fast learner about matters many CEOs don't even consider. I can't think of a CEO, a management consultant, an academic, a member of government - you name it - that I would select over Greg to handle your savings and mine,' Buffett stated.
Buffett leaves behind $382 billion cash reserve in the firm which he moulded through a 60-year career. Berkshire Hathaway now owns dozens of companies, including insurer Geico, battery maker Duracell and restaurant chain Dairy Queen.
Buffett recently said he is 'going quiet' at Berkshire, but will continue talking about Berkshire through his annual Thanksgiving message.
The 95-year-old investment legend, who is known as the 'Oracle of Omaha,' has always been an inspiration to millions of investors around the world with his principles and wisdom, still continuing to guide CEOs and executives how to run their businesses.
During much of his life, he was among the top 10 richest people in the world. In the Forbs World's Billionaires List 2025, Buffett was ranked 6th with a wealth of $154 billion. According to Forbes, his real-time net worth as of December 31 is $149 billion, ranking 9 in the world today.
Being one of the most successful investors of all times, Buffett also pledged to donate 99% of his wealth to the world causes with the creation of the Giving Pledge in 2010 along with Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. The initiative motivates world's other richest people to promise to donate majority of their wealth to charitable causes.
So far, he has given away nearly $65 billion, mostly through the Gates Foundation and his kids' foundations.
Since the beginning of the initiative, more than 250 of the world's wealthiest philanthropists from 30 countries have joined together in this promise.
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