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Buffett Backs Abel, Accelerates Gifts in Farewell Letter as Berkshire CEO

He will keep a sizable Class A stake to ease the transition to Greg Abel.

Overview

  • Greg Abel, 63, will take over as Berkshire Hathaway CEO at the start of the new year, with Warren Buffett staying on as chairman.
  • Buffett converted 1,800 Class A shares into 2.7 million Class B shares and donated about $1.3–$1.35 billion to four family foundations.
  • He said he will speed up lifetime transfers of his roughly $149 billion Berkshire stake to his children’s foundations.
  • Buffett will stop writing Berkshire’s annual report and speaking at the annual meeting, continuing only an annual Thanksgiving message.
  • He will retain a significant block of Class A shares for now and said the accelerated giving does not signal any change to Berkshire’s outlook, which includes a record cash pile.