Warren Buffett exits as Berkshire chair, son to take over

Buffett, known as the Oracle of Omaha, will remain a director.

Warren Buffett is stepping down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway in the next step of the transition at the top of the $1 trillion conglomerate he led for more than six decades.Buffett (96) will become chairman emeritus and his son, Howard, will become Berkshire's new chairman.Buffett, known as the Oracle of Omaha, will remain a director. He had been Berkshire Hathaway's chairman since 1970. Buffett transformed the Omaha, Nebraska-based company, once a textile mill he took control in 1965, and built one of the most successful investment firms. Today, his conglomerate owns dozens of businesses, from Duracell to US insurer Geico, and holds shares in select companies, from Coca-Cola to Bank of America.Greg Abel took over from Buffett as the CEO of the $1 trillion conglomerate at the start of this year though Buffett continued to come into the office each day to look for new investments and deals and offer Abel any advice. It's not clear whether Buffett will change his routine at all now."I have served Berkshire since 1965," Buffett said in a letter to shareholders. "Sixty-plus years in, I still have the best job in the world.

That is not something many people my age can say, and I have never felt better about what comes next."Buffett said that he is confident with Abel and his son Howard leading Berkshire Hathaway."Greg runs the company; Howard will guard its culture and values - both worth more than anything on our balance sheet," he said. "Think of Howard as a policy the shareholders own and hope never to claim against." Abel started managing all of Berkshire's non-insurance businesses in 2018 when he was elevated to vice chairman, so he knows the various companies well.

But CFRA Research analyst Cathy Seifert said investors still have questions about how well Abel will be able to deploy Berkshire's massive $365 billion cash pile."There was a premium awarded to Berkshire stock because of their financial strengths and because of this famed investor who was allocating capital. I think it's naive to assume that this is business as usual. It's not," Seifert said. In 2024, Berkshire Hathaway became the first non-tech company valued at more than $1 trillion.Buffett's take on finance has created its own gravitational pull. When Berkshire Hathaway reveals the stocks that the company has acquired or sold in public disclosures, it can shake markets.