Shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE:BRK.A) fell 4.6% on Monday morning after the company announced that Greg Abel will take over as CEO at the start of next year, succeeding Warren Buffett after more than six decades at the helm.
The leadership transition was approved unanimously by Berkshire’s board following Buffett’s weekend announcement to shareholders. The 94-year-old billionaire will remain chairman of the board.
Abel, 62, has overseen Berkshire’s sprawling non-insurance operations since 2018 and has long been viewed as Buffett’s likely successor. He is also chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy.
The succession plan marks a historic shift for the Omaha-based conglomerate, which Buffett transformed into a $900 billion powerhouse through a strategy of acquiring and holding businesses across sectors including insurance, railroads, utilities, consumer goods and technology.
Buffett said on Saturday that the board would meet the next day to confirm the transition.
Abel, a Canadian-born accountant by training, began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers and joined the energy firm CalEnergy in 1992. That company later merged with MidAmerican Energy, which Berkshire acquired in 1999. Abel became CEO of MidAmerican in 2008 and helped steer it through its transformation into Berkshire Hathaway Energy in 2014.
Buffett publicly identified Abel as his chosen successor in a 2021 interview, saying, “The directors are in agreement that if something were to happen to me tonight, it would be Greg who’d take over tomorrow morning.”
Abel will officially assume the CEO role on January 1, 2026.