Berkshire Hathaway shares dip as Warren Buffett exits and Greg Abel era begins

Berkshire Hathaway shares slipped Friday as investors digested the formal end of Warren Buffett’s six-decade tenure as chief executive and the start of a new era under successor Greg Abel.

Class A shares fell 1.7% in afternoon trading on Abel’s first day as CEO, following Buffett’s official handoff of the role and the close of one of the most storied leadership tenures in corporate history.

The Omaha-based conglomerate ended 2025 with a gain of 10.9%, trailing the S&P 500’s 16.4% advance but marking its 10th consecutive year of positive returns. Buffett, 95, remains chairman and has sought to reassure shareholders that Berkshire’s future extends well beyond his tenure.

“It has a better chance, I think, of being here 100 years from now than any company I can think of,” Buffett said in a special interview with CNBC.

Abel takes over as Berkshire sits on a record $381.6 billion in cash as of the end of September, following an extended period of net equity selling. Buffett has said Abel will have final authority over capital allocation decisions.

“Greg will be the decider,” Buffett said. I “can’t imagine how much more he can get accomplished in a week than I can in a month….I’d rather have Greg handling my money than any of the top investment advisors or any of the top CEOs in the United States.”

Berkshire shares lagged the broader market after Buffett announced his retirement in May, as some investors weighed whether Abel could oversee the conglomerate’s vast operating businesses and equity portfolio with the same touch, while still justifying a premium valuation.

Buffett departs with an unmatched record. After taking control of Berkshire in the mid-1960s, he turned a struggling textile maker into a compounding powerhouse. From 1964 through 2024, Berkshire 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.