Warren Buffett has decided to resign from the position of chairperson of Berkshire Hathaway after serving at the post for over 50 years, the company announced on Friday. He will be succeeded by his son Howard, which is part of the company’s long-planned succession.
96-year-old Warren had served as the company’s chairman since 1970 and will remain as a director. He will also take charge as the chairman emeritus immediately.
“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.”
“Greg runs the company; Howard will guard its culture and values — both worth more than anything on our balance sheet,” he added, “Think of Howard as a policy the shareholders own and hope never to claim against.”
How the company’s fortunes changed under Warren
Buffett’s fortune has been amassed through Berkshire Hathaway stock. The company, which was a New England textile firm that was built into an investing conglomerate and an icon of Wall Street. In 2024, Berkshire Hathaway became one of the first non-tech companies valued at more than USD 1 trillion.
Buffett, a longtime philanthropist, has given away roughly USD 66 billion worth of stock since 2006. 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.
During his time as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Berkshire Hathaway, the company nearly doubled the returns of the S&P 500, with a 19.9 per cent compounded annual growth rate compared with the index’s 10.4 per cent gain. But notably, the shares of Berkshire Hathaway pointed lower before the opening bell Friday.
“Warren’s impact on Berkshire and its owners is without parallel in the history of American business,” Abel said in a prepared statement. “The culture Warren built and the values he championed will remain at the heart of Berkshire, and Howard will be their guardian.”
(With AP inputs)
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