Warren Buffett and Greg Abel walkthrough the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 3, 2025.
David A. Grogen | CNBC
The investing world’s north star is beginning to dim.
Warren Buffett has handed over the CEO reins to Greg Abel after a six-decade run that turned an unremarkable textile company into one of the most powerful compounding engines in market history, leaving investors grappling with how singular that achievement really was, even as he remains chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.
When Buffett took control of Berkshire in the mid-1960s, its shares traded around $19. By the end of 2025, a single Class A share was worth over $750,000.
From 1964 — the year before Buffett took control of Berkshire — to 2024, the one-of-a-kind conglomerate delivered a compounded annual gain of 19.9%, nearly double the S&P 500‘s 10.4%, resulting in an overall return of more than 5.5 million percent, according to the company’s latest annual report. The shares added another 10% to that return in 2025.
The record was built on an unusually spare formula: use insurance float as a source of low-cost capital, buy businesses with durable cash flows and allow time to do most of the work. That approach produced long-held stakes in companies such as Coca-Cola and American Express, while Berkshire expanded into railroads, utilities and manufacturing through wholly owned subsidiaries.
“If it was that easy to do again, somebody would be doing it,” Bill Stone, chief investment officer at Glenview Trust Company and a Berkshire shareholder, said. “You think about the duo that having Charlie Munger as your partner, it’s just hard to imagine that coming together again anytime soon.”
As Buffett relinquishes the helm, investors are increasingly focused on what disappears with him. Seth Klarman, founder of the Baupost Group, called Buffett “an American role model” and said his retirement represents more than a leadership transition.
“The world of investing will be different without Warren Buffett at the helm of Berkshire,” Klarman said in a tribute.
‘Going Quiet’
Buffett has said he’s “going quiet” as he steps back, signaling a reduced public presence even as he remains chairman. Abel will assume responsibility for Berkshire’s annual shareholder letters, a tradition Buffett began in 1965 that became essential reading on Wall Street for its plainspoken lessons on markets, management and capital allocation. Buffett will keep penning a Thanksgiving message, however.
The annual letters were one pillar of Buffett’s influence. The other was Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting. Often dubbed “Woodstock for Capitalists,” the gathering drew tens of thousands of investors to Omaha, Nebraska, each year for hours of unscripted Q&A. The event cemented Buffett’s role not just as a steward of capital, but as a steady public voice investors trusted to put market upheaval into perspective.
Buffett also rejected many Wall Street conventions. Berkshire never split its stock, discouraging speculation and cultivating a shareholder base oriented toward decades rather than quarters. The company declined to issue earnings guidance and gave operating managers wide autonomy, while capital allocation decisions remained centralized in Omaha.
“Warren, as chairman, will be an advisor to Greg, a cultural anchor, and a real long term thinker,” said Ann Winblad, managing director at Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and longtime Berkshire shareholder, on CNBC’s “The Exchange.” “Will the company fundamentally change in its strategies? No. ..The culture of Berkshire Hathaway, which is what I’ve invested in, which is patient, long term, careful and decisive investing, will probably still remain.”
The company held a record $381.6 billion in cash at the end of September, underscoring both its financial firepower and Buffett’s caution in a richly valued market. Berkshire has also been a net seller of equities for 12 straight quarters, a rare and sustained retreat that reflects limited opportunities at its scale.
Shareholder attention is shifting to a less settled part of the succession plan: the fate of its $300 billion equity portfolio. With no obvious successor possessing a comparable record in public equities, some analysts say Berkshire may ultimately scale back active stock selection, particularly given the size and concentration of the portfolio.
Buffett has also repeatedly cautioned shareholders against mistaking volatility for failure.
“Our stock price will move capriciously, occasionally falling 50% or so as has happened three times in 60 years under present management,” he wrote. “Don’t despair; America will come back and so will Berkshire shares.”