Warren Buffett Becomes Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Emeritus as Son Howard Buffett Is Elected Chairman

Warren Buffett has stepped down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, becoming chairman emeritus effective immediately while remaining a director on the board, the company said in a news release Friday. His son, Howard G. Buffett, has been elected chairman, following what Berkshire described as a long-standing succession plan, according to CNBC.

Greg Abel remains chief executive, a role he has held for a little more than nine months, and Susan Decker will continue as lead independent director, CNBC reported.

A Formal Handoff, Not a Departure

Buffett, 96, announced the change in a letter to shareholders published Friday, according to CNBC's report. He has led Berkshire, now a $1 trillion conglomerate, since 1965. The move comes a little more than nine months after Abel took over as CEO while Buffett kept the chairman title, and it follows Buffett's initial announcement of his exit as chief executive at the company's annual meeting in May 2025, CNBC noted.

Buffett described the division of labor between Abel and his son in his letter: "Greg runs the company; Howard will guard its culture and values — both worth more than anything on our balance sheet," he wrote, adding, "Think of Howard as a policy the shareholders own and hope never to claim against," per CNBC's account of the letter.

In the company's own release, Abel said, "The culture Warren built and the values he championed will remain at the heart of Berkshire, and Howard will be their guardian." Asked for comment separately by CNBC, Abel said he looked forward "to continuing to work alongside Warren, with Howard serving as Chairman and Sue as Lead Independent Director," and called his job "the best job in American business."

Buffett's Assessment of the Business

Buffett struck a confident tone in the letter, writing "Father Time always wins," but adding that Father Time "has, however, been generous with me. He has given me the opportunity to see Berkshire reach a point where I am more confident than ever about what lies ahead," CNBC reported. Buffett also praised Abel directly: "My expectations for him were sky high from the start, and he has exceeded them." He closed by saying, "The company is in excellent hands, and I look forward to remaining a shareholder alongside you."

Stock Performance and the Cash Pile

Berkshire shares have lagged the broader market this year. CNBC reported the stock is up just 1% in 2026, while the S&P 500 has rallied more than 11% over the same period. Subtracting those two reported figures (11% minus 1%) leaves a gap of at least 10 percentage points. That spread, an interpretation of the two reported returns rather than a company disclosure, raises the stakes for Abel on capital deployment as sole operating chief.

Berkshire's cash position stood at $365.5 billion, according to CNBC, and Abel has already begun putting some of it to work, stepping up share repurchases to $4.5 billion in the second quarter. Whether that pace continues, or whether the company finds larger acquisition or investment targets, remains something investors will watch under the new leadership structure.

Six Decades of Compounding

Buffett took control of what was then a failing New England textile mill at age 34 and built it into an industrial and financial conglomerate that posted $44.5 billion in operating earnings last year and employs nearly 400,000 people, per CNBC. Over his tenure, Berkshire delivered a 19.7% compounded annual return to shareholders, nearly double the S&P 500's return over the same stretch, CNBC reported.

A Hands-On Chairman to the End

Even after ceding the CEO title, Buffett stayed closely involved. Abel told CNBC in March that Buffett was still coming into the Omaha office every day and that the CEO still frequently consulted with him. Buffett made brief remarks at Berkshire's May annual meeting, and in July he told CNBC he was the driving force behind Berkshire's $10 billion private purchase of Alphabet stock in June, a position now Berkshire's third-biggest holding behind Apple and American Express.

Bottom Line

Friday's announcement formalizes a succession plan Berkshire had signaled well in advance: Abel runs day-to-day operations as CEO, Howard Buffett takes the chairman's seat to oversee culture and values, and Warren Buffett steps back into an emeritus role while staying on the board and as a shareholder. The near-term test, as CNBC's reporting on the stock's underperformance against the S&P 500 suggests, will be whether Abel can turn Berkshire's large cash reserves into returns that close that gap, a question this transition does not by itself answer.