{"id":24392,"date":"2025-11-11T06:00:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T06:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/?p=847107"},"modified":"2025-11-11T06:00:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T06:00:13","slug":"buffett-strongly-backs-ceo-designate-abel-plans-to-keep-berkshire-shares","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2025\/11\/11\/buffett-strongly-backs-ceo-designate-abel-plans-to-keep-berkshire-shares\/","title":{"rendered":"Buffett Strongly Backs CEO-Designate Abel, Plans to Keep Berkshire Shares"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/img\/social\/opengraph\/ij-social-default-1200x630.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<ul class=\"nav nav-tabs tabs tabs-entry\">\n<li class=\"active\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/news\/national\/2025\/11\/11\/847107.htm\">Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/news\/national\/2025\/11\/11\/847107.htm?comments\" rel=\"nofollow\">0 Comments<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"article-content clearfix\">\n<p class=\"tr-story-p1\">Warren Buffett on Monday assured Berkshire Hathaway shareholders they need not worry about his upcoming departure as chief executive, giving a full-throated endorsement to his successor Greg Abel and promising to remain a major shareholder.<\/p>\n<p>In a letter to Berkshire shareholders, possibly his last public communication with them until he steps down at year-end, Buffett, 95, downplayed Berkshire\u2019s recently underperforming stock.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bzn bzn-sized bzn-intext\">\n<ins data-revive-zoneid=\"79\" data-revive-block=\"1\" data-revive-id=\"36eb7c2bd3daa932a43cc2a8ffbed3a9\"><\/ins> <\/div>\n<p>He also said Abel has \u201cmore than met\u201d his high expectations when he first thought the 63-year-old was CEO material.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t think of a CEO, a management consultant, an academic, a member of government\u2014you name it\u2014that I would select over Greg to handle your savings and mine,\u201d Buffett wrote. \u201cHe is a great manager, a tireless worker and an honest communicator. Wish him an extended tenure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Buffett has led Berkshire since 1965, and will remain chairman of the $1.07 trillion conglomerate.<\/p>\n<p>He also announced plans to speed up his charitable donations to family foundations led by his daughter Susie, 72, and sons Howard, 70, and Peter, 67, but assured that this \u201cin no way reflects any change in my views about Berkshire\u2019s prospects.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Referring to longtime second-in-command Charlie Munger, who died in 2023, Buffett said he wants to keep a significant number of Class A shares \u201cuntil Berkshire shareholders develop the comfort with Greg that Charlie and I long enjoyed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat level of confidence shouldn\u2019t take long,\u201d Buffett added. \u201cMy children are already 100% behind Greg as are the Berkshire directors.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"bzn bzn-sized bzn-intext-2\">\n<ins data-revive-zoneid=\"162\" data-revive-block=\"1\" data-revive-id=\"36eb7c2bd3daa932a43cc2a8ffbed3a9\"><\/ins> <\/div>\n<p>Buffett donated more than $1.3 billion of Berkshire stock, the equivalent of 1,800 Class A shares, on Monday to four family foundations led by his children.<\/p>\n<p>He has donated more than half his Berkshire shares since 2006, mainly to the Gates Foundation, but still owns close to 14% of the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate\u2019s stock. Buffett is worth about $149 billion, according to Forbes magazine.<\/p>\n<p>BUFFETT CONFIDENT IN BERKSHIRE EVEN AS PREMIUM ERODES<\/p>\n<p>Berkshire\u2019s share price has fallen 8% since early May, when Buffett unexpectedly announced he would step down, while the Standard &amp; Poor\u2019s 500 <span id=\"x8\" class=\"tr-ric\">.SPX<\/span> has risen 20%.<\/p>\n<p>Investors believe that this eroded much of the \u201cBuffett premium\u201d embedded in Berkshire\u2019s stock because of the presence of arguably the world\u2019s most revered investor.<\/p>\n<p>In his letter, Buffett said Berkshire\u2019s stock price will move \u201ccapriciously,\u201d noting that it has fallen about 50% three times since he took over.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t despair: America will come back and so will Berkshire shares,\u201d Buffett said.<\/p>\n<p>Even so, Buffett said Berkshire\u2019s nearly 200 businesses collectively have \u201cmoderately better-than-average prospects,\u201d and investors should not expect Berkshire to trounce the market as it did when it was small.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur size takes its toll,\u201d Buffett said. \u201cBecause of Berkshire\u2019s size and because of market levels, ideas are few \u2013 but not zero.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Abel has been a Berkshire vice chairman overseeing non-insurance operations since 2018, and was publicly designated Buffett\u2019s expected successor in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>He has drawn wide praise from Berkshire business leaders for his management skills, and taken on more of Buffett\u2019s work, which includes allocating capital. Buffett said Abel understands many Berkshire businesses \u201cfar better than I do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>CHILDREN TO OVERSEE BUFFETT\u2019S REMAINING FORTUNE<\/p>\n<p>After Buffett dies, his children will oversee a charitable trust that will contain nearly all of his remaining wealth, and have about a decade to give it away.<\/p>\n<p>Successor trustees have been named if they cannot serve. Donations to the Gates Foundation will stop.<\/p>\n<p>Berkshire-owned businesses include Geico car insurance, the BNSF railroad, an array of energy and industrial businesses, and familiar retail brands such as Dairy Queen, Fruit of the Loom and See\u2019s Candies.<\/p>\n<p>The conglomerate also ended September with $283.2 billion of stocks including Apple and American Express, and $381.7 billion of cash.<\/p>\n<p>While Buffett will no longer write Berkshire\u2019s annual shareholder letters or lead its annual meetings, he plans to continue communicating with shareholders around the Thanksgiving Day holiday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo my surprise, I generally feel good,\u201d Buffett said. \u201cThough I move slowly and read with increasing difficulty, I am at the office five days a week where I work with wonderful people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll\" data-post=\"847107\">\n<div class=\"article-poll-vote\">\n<p>Was this article valuable?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll-feedback voted-no\">\n<form class=\"feedback-form\">\n<p>Thank you! Please tell us what we can do to improve this article.<\/p>\n<p> <textarea placeholder=\"Enter your feedback...\"><\/textarea> <button type=\"submit\" class=\"submit\" disabled>Submit<\/button> <button class=\"cancel\">No Thanks<\/button> <\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll-feedback voted-yes\">\n<form class=\"feedback-form\">\n<p>Thank you! <span class=\"percent\"><\/span>% of people found this article valuable. Please tell us what you liked about it.<\/p>\n<p> <textarea placeholder=\"Enter your feedback...\"><\/textarea> <button type=\"submit\" class=\"submit\" disabled>Submit<\/button> <button class=\"cancel\">No Thanks<\/button> <\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll-more-articles\">\n<p class=\"thank-you-text\">Here are more articles you may enjoy.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"subscribe-banner subscribe-banner-in-content-2\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h4>The most important insurance news,in your inbox every business day.<\/h4>\n<p>Get the insurance industry&#8217;s trusted newsletter<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Article 0 Comments Warren Buffett on Monday assured Berkshire Hathaway shareholders they need not worry about his upcoming departure as chief executive, giving a full-throated endorsement to his successor Greg Abel and promising to&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[1441,1442,2,1,1759,1443],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/buffett-strongly-backs-ceo-designate-abel-plans-to-keep-berkshire-shares.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24392"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}