Warren Buffett names Greg Abel as Berkshire Hathaway successor
Investor Warren Buffett has said that vice-chairman Greg Abel will succeed him as chief executive when he steps down from the role.
Buffett, 90, built Berkshire Hathaway from a failing textile maker into a $628bn investment giant.
Despite the announcement, Buffet said that he has no plans to step down in the near future.
“The directors are in agreement that if something were to happen to me tonight, it would be Greg who’d take over tomorrow morning,” Buffett told CNBC.
Greg Abel has overseen Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses since 2018, after building its Berkshire Hathaway Energy unit into a major US power provider.
Ajit Jain, a vice-chairman overseeing Berkshire’s insurance businesses, was another CEO candidate, but Buffett said that Abel’s relative youth made “a real difference”.
Buffett’s hand may have been forced after vice-chairman Charlie Munger let slip at Berkshire’s annual meeting last week that “Greg will keep the culture.”
“I suspect Buffett disclosed this reluctantly, though Abel’s coronation is not exactly a surprise,” said Jim Shanahan, analyst at Edward Jones & Co.