Warren Buffett withdrew to Berkshire Hathaway. Here is what he thinks then.

Warren Buffett rocked the world of investment on Saturday with four words: “Time has happened.”

The legend of investment and longtime CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B,, BRK-A)) Official rendering this weekend plans to submit the role of CEO to Berkshire to the company's vice-president, Greg Abel, at the end of the year. Abel was first identified as the Buffett successor in 2021.

At 94, the Buffett Declaration which he fell back from the CEO functions – which he will recommend to the board of directors in a meeting set for Sunday – is less a shock than a question of necessity. Either buffett or the father's time were going to make a call soon; Buffett first took measures.

Buffett preparations to leave his post at Berkshire Hathaway, which he has held since 1970, has been underway for years.

Abel and Ajit Jain, who directs Berkshire's insurance operations, were appointed vice-presidents of Berkshire in 2018. And as early as 2014, the longtime man of Buffett, Charlie Munger, wrote on these two potential successors for Buffett.

“Ajit Jain and Greg Abel are proven performers who would probably be argued as” world class “,” Munger wrote. “” Leading “would be the description I would choose. In an important way, each is a better business manager than Buffett.”

People watch the president of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett, is seen on a screen speaking at the annual meeting of shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, Omaha, Nebraska, United States, May 3, 2025. Reuters / Brendan McDermid · Reuters / Reuters

In his 2014 annual letterBuffett has thought about the 50 -year birthday of its investment partnership by describing what would be necessary to maintain the Berkshire for 50 others.

“Berkshire management is mainly a capital allowance work, coupled with the selection and retention of pending managers for captain of our operational subsidiaries,” wrote Buffett.

“Obviously, work also requires replacing the CEO of a subsidiary during this.

During the meeting on Saturday, Buffett minimized the volatility of this year on the stock market on several occasions, noting that we have seen much more sharp sales – both for the overall market and the Berkshire shares. The first is down 3% this year; The latter, up 17%.

At one point, Buffett declared market action this year “is really nothing. “”

The future CEOs of Berkshire will probably treat worse environments that will test their courage.

File - Vice -president of Berkshire Hathaway, Greg Abel, checks the flight simulators offered by one of the companies in Berkshire, flight security while visited the exhibition hall on Friday May 3, 2024, in Omaha, Neb. Before the meeting on Saturday. (AP photo / josh funk, file) — Vice-president of Berkshire Hathaway, Greg Abel, checks the flight simulators offered by one of the Berkshire companies, flight safety while visiting the exhibition hall on Friday May 3, 2024, in Omaha, Neb. Before the meeting on Saturday. (AP photo / josh funk, file) · Associated Press

Elsewhere in this 2014 letter, Buffett described the necessary qualities, the challenges to face and the traps avoided for the next CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.

Here are some of the strengths:

“The character is crucial: a CEO of Berkshire must be” All in “for the company, not for itself.”
“He cannot help earning money higher than a possible need. But it is important that neither ego nor greed motivates him to reach the salary corresponding to his most sumptuous peers, even if his achievements far exceed theirs.
“The behavior of a CEO has a huge impact on managers in the end: if it is clear to them that the interests of shareholders are essential for him, they, with a few exceptions, will also adopt this way of thinking.”

“My successor will need another particular force: the ability to fight the ABC of Decay Business, which are arrogance, bureaucracy and complacency.”
“When these cancers of the company metastize, even the strongest companies can weaken. CEOs and directors had not long thought impossible.”

“If our non -economic values should be lost, a large part of the economic value of Berkshire would also collapse.” The tone at the top “will be essential to maintain the special culture of Berkshire.”
“Fortunately, the structure of our future CEOs will have to succeed is firmly in place. The extraordinary delegation of the existing authority now in Berkshire is the ideal antidote of bureaucracy … We do not have a legal office or departments that other companies are trying to acquire: human relations, public relations, relations with investors, strategy, acquisitions, you call it.”
“We have, of course, an active audit function; no sense to be an idiotic damned.

Friday, the Berkshire stock closed to a record.

Given in one way, the Berkshire Hathaway Greg Abel will inherit Warren Buffett next year does not seem so different from the company that Buffett led in 2015. Berkshire has only made one major acquisition over the years – A 2015 agreement for precision castings.

Its investment portfolio has developed alongside the larger market and has become defined by a successful bet on Apple (Aapl) – A fact that prompted Buffett to say that Apple CEO, Tim Cook, did more for Berkshire shareholders than ever. But the Berkshire portfolio remains consistent with what it has been for decades now, a collection of predictable companies held in large size, for long periods.

Of course, in business, life or otherwise, substantial change will occur more than a decade, whether you are looking for it or not.

Buffett said on Saturday that after that Aub has taken over as CEO, “I would always hang out and could be useful in a few cases, but the last word is what Greg said, in operations, in deployment of capital, anyway.”

Anyone who has witnessed a leading change where the old boss remains to “advise” knows that these arrangements tend to fall quickly – you are outside.

Charlie Munger has now disappeared for two Berkshire shareholders' meetings. Donald Trump won two presidential elections. Berkshire's annual profits rose from $ 19.8 billion in 2014 to $ 89 billion in 2024. Yankees have still not won world series.

The Berkshire board of directors will meet on Sunday to discuss the Buffett proposal described on Saturday. Buffett said he expects them to accept his calendar “unanimously”. More details will emerge in the coming months.

The next phase in the history of companies by Berkshire Hathaway is underway. No planning would have removed the uncertainty ensured in the years to come, but what a buffett thought Need to happen next is not quite a mystery – everything has been written.

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