Wall Street Journal: Why is Buffett retiring? Who will be his successor?

Author: Karen Langley, Wall Street Journal; Translator: Deng Tong, Golden Finance

Warren Buffett can't know exactly when he will decide to hand over control of Berkshire Hathaway to Greg Abel.

But in recent years, Buffett has noticed that his designated successor is full of energy every day, while his own pace has slowed down. The two work at very different paces, and the difference is getting bigger and bigger.

Buffett, 94, told The Wall Street Journal: "There is no magic moment. How do you know the day you get old?"

Berkshire shareholders and onlookers have long wondered who can replace Buffett, who has been a giant in American business and finance for decades. But As his 90th birthday approaches, Buffett is beginning to experience something most people accept long ago: his age.

“Somehow I didn’t really start getting old until I was about 90,” he said in a telephone interview from his office in Omaha, Nebraska. “But when you start getting old, it becomes — it’s irreversible.”

He began to lose his balance occasionally, sometimes unable to remember a person’s name. Suddenly, the newspapers he read seemed to have been printed too little.

Over the past year, those thoughts and feelings converged into a decision. On May 3, at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting, Buffett stunned the investment world by revealing in the final minutes of the question-and-answer session that he planned to step down as CEO in December and make way for Abel. Buffett will remain chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, with no specific timeline set for his tenure.

As Buffett spoke, the packed Omaha stadium fell silent, then burst into applause. Even Abel, who was on stage with him, had no idea what was coming next.

Abel, 62, joined Berkshire in 1999 through Berkshire's investment in MidAmerican Energy, a utility based in Des Moines, Iowa. Buffett was so impressed with Abel's success in building the company's energy business that he promoted him to vice chairman in 2018 and put him in charge of all of Berkshire's non-insurance businesses. In 2021, he was chosen by Buffett to take over as CEO.

"Really great talent is very rare," Buffett said, "very rare in business, very rare in capital allocation, very rare in almost every human activity you can think of."

Buffett was just 34 when he took over Berkshire in the spring of 1965. At the time, Berkshire was just a struggling textile manufacturer in New England. Over the years, he built it into a giant. Berkshire operates insurance companies, utilities and railroads, as well as household brands from Dairy Queen to Duracell. Its vast stock portfolio includes big holdings in Apple and American Express.

As Berkshire has grown from an investment vehicle for Buffett to a sprawling conglomerate with nearly 400,000 employees, the skills needed to keep the company afloat have changed. Buffett praised Abel as both a good manager and a dealmaker.

Greg Abel (third from left) and Warren Buffett attend the 2025 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. Photo credit: MATTHEW PUTNEY/AP/JAZWARES

“The gap in energy level between him and me, and the amount of work he does 10 hours a day — the gap keeps getting bigger and bigger,” Buffett said. “He’s been much more effective, making management changes when needed, helping people who need help, and in a variety of ways.”

“It really wouldn’t be fair to not have Greg take over the job,” he added. “The longer Greg stays at Berkshire, the better.”

Few expected to hear those words in 2025. Many observers had thought Buffett might stay at the helm of Berkshire until his death. But Buffett said he never thought he would be Berkshire’s CEO for life.

“I thought I could stay as CEO as long as I felt I was more useful than anyone else,” he said. “But you know, I’m surprised I’ve been out of the job for so long.”

While Buffett’s days as CEO are numbered, he said he plans to keep working.

“My health is excellent and I feel good every day,” he said. "I'm in the office now, working with people I like, they like me too, and we get along very well."

Buffett's speech is played on the screen at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting. Photo: Reuters

Buffett acknowledged that some of his abilities have weakened with age, but he said he still has perhaps his most cherished and rarest gift as an investor.

“I have no trouble making decisions now, just as I did 20 years ago, 40 years ago or 60 years ago,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “If there’s a panic in the market, I’m here to be useful because I don’t get scared when prices go down or when everybody panics.”

“And it really has nothing to do with age.”

The same is true for Abel, Buffett said. While Abel’s job in recent years has been to oversee subsidiaries, Buffett said he’s also a successful investor. Berkshire Hathaway’s massive accumulation of cash and U.S. Treasury bonds has recently drawn attention, with observers speculating on where the company’s next deal will come from.

“He’ll have his own ideas about where the money should be invested,” Buffett said.

The Abel era at Berkshire Hathaway is less than eight months away. By then, Buffett won’t be far behind. He plans to continue commuting to his office in Omaha.

“I won’t be sitting at home watching soap operas anymore,” he said with a laugh. “My interests remain the same.”