Warren Buffett has told Berkshire Hathaway shareholders they should stick around as he prepares to depart as chief executive, giving a full-throated endorsement to his successor Greg Abel and promising to remain a major shareholder.
In a letter to Berkshire shareholders, likely his last before he steps down at year-end, the 95-year-old Buffett said he will be “going quiet” as Abel takes the lead in communicating with them.
Buffett also downplayed recent declines in Berkshire’s stock price, saying Abel has “more than met” his high expectations when he first thought the 63-year-old was CEO material, and simply needs time to gain investors’ confidence.
“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 wrote.
“He is a great manager, a tireless worker and an honest communicator. Wish him an extended tenure.”
Abel will take over writing Berkshire’s annual shareholder letters and leading its annual meetings. Buffett, who will remain chairman, plans to keep communicating with shareholders around the Thanksgiving Day holiday.
“As the British would say, I’m ‘going quiet,’” Buffett wrote.
He nonetheless said “to my surprise, I generally feel good,” and that “though I move slowly and read with increasing difficulty, I am at the office five days a week where I work with wonderful people.”
Buffett has led Berkshire since 1965, transforming it from a failing textile company to a $US1.07 trillion ($A1.64 trillion) conglomerate with nearly 200 businesses.
In his letter, Buffett announced plans to speed up his charitable donations to family foundations led by his daughter Susie, 72, and sons Howard, 70, and Peter, 67.
He assured that the change “in no way reflects any change in my views about Berkshire’s prospects.”
Referring to long-time second-in-command Charlie Munger, who died in 2023, Buffett also said he wants to keep a significant number of Class A shares “until Berkshire shareholders develop the comfort with Greg that Charlie and I long enjoyed.”
“That level of confidence shouldn’t take long,” Buffett added. “My children are already 100 per cent behind Greg as are the Berkshire directors.”
Buffett donated more than $US1.3 billion of Berkshire stock, the equivalent of 1,800 Class A shares, on Monday to four family foundations led by his children.
He has donated more than half his Berkshire shares since 2006, mainly to the Gates Foundation, but still owns close to 14 per cent of the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate’s stock.
Buffett is worth $US148.2 billion, according to Forbes magazine.