Berkshire Hathaway shares fall 5% as board OKs Warren Buffett’s replacement

Shares in Berkshire Hathaway slipped Monday morning after the board approved Greg Abel to take over as president on Jan. 1, 2026, following legendary investor Warren Buffett’s shocking announcement over the weekend that he plans to step down after 60 years at the helm.

Along with approving Abel, 62, as successor, the board unanimously voted for Buffett, 94, to remain as chairman, the company said. The longtime chairman has a net worth of $168.2 billion, according to Forbes.

Berkshire Hathaway Class A shares, the company’s original stock offering, and Class B shares, first issued in 1996 and trading at a more moderate price, each fell about 5.5% by approximately 10 a.m. ET.

Buffett waited until the last minute on Saturday at his annual shareholder meeting – dubbed the “Woodstock for Capitalists,” drawing around 20,000 attendees this year – to make the surprise announcement.

“I think the time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year end,” he said.

Buffett hand-picked Abel, a Canadian businessman who helped build the corporation’s energy unit into a major US power provider, in 2021 to take the reins at the $1.16 trillion conglomerate. He currently serves as vice chairman.

“I would still hang around and could conceivably be useful in a few cases. But the final word would be what Greg said, in operations, in capital deployment, whatever it might be,” Buffett added.

Investors are concerned that Abel won’t be able to match the legacy and investing genius of Buffett, who bought his first stock at 11 years old in 1942.

Buffett studied from the infamous economist Benjamin Graham, known as the “father of value investing” and author of “The Intelligent Investor,” at Columbia Business School.

And he was born in the right place and time – making sizable railway investments and betting big on small firms, starting his career before trillions of dollars had been funneled into the stock market.

These early investments produced an average return of 25.3% annually for Berkshire from 1957 through 1968 – compared with just 10.5% for the S&P 500 over the same period.

Buffett has been grooming his longtime heir apparent for years, assigning Abel to run most of the companies owned by Berkshire and sharing the stage with him at the conglomerate’s massive annual meetings.

But it’s not just his investing prowess that makes Buffett special. He’s known for fairly simple tastes, at least for a mega-billionaire – living in the same home for six decades, turning down offers to name highways after him, and enjoying regular McDonald’s breakfasts and affordable steak dinners.

Abel – who was apparently as surprised by Buffett’s announcement as everyone else in attendance, saying it’s “the first time I heard that” – will have to lead Berkshire in his own way, not attempt to emulate the “Oracle of Omaha,” according to investors and analysts. 

Buffett is known for taking a relatively laissez-faire approach to the conglomerate’s investments. 

But Abel – who has been managing subsidiaries like Benjamin Moore and Fruit of the Loom – has suggested he’s eager to suggest potential growth opportunities or work with these companies on risk management.

Residents of Omaha are also concerned about the switch, since Abel currently lives in Des Moines, Iowa, where Berkshire’s energy unit is based.

Berkshire’s infamous annual investor conference brings the local Omaha economy an estimated $22 million each year, and the city enjoys a boost of tourism from fans of the Oracle. 

Local groups offer tours featuring stops at Buffett’s current house, childhood home and the site of his great-grandfather’s grocery store.

Some are anxious for Abel to relocate to Omaha, worried the corporation and its investor meeting – the city’s largest annual convention – might move elsewhere. 

A representative for Berkshire Hathaway said there is nothing to say on speculation about a move to Omaha at this point, and directed The Post to the firm’s press release on Abel’s appointment.