Warren Buffett outside Berkshire Hathaway headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska. Photo credit: VINCENT TULLO
“You don’t really start feeling old until you’re 90”
#Buffett can't pinpoint the exact moment of the handover, but in recent years he has clearly felt the growing difference in pace between himself and his 61-year-old successor, Greg Abel.
“There is no magic moment,” Buffett, 94, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
Berkshire shareholders and onlookers have long wondered who might replace Buffett, a towering figure in American business and finance for decades. But as he passed his 90th birthday, Buffett began to experience something most people have to accept early in life: their age.
“Oddly enough, I didn’t really start to feel old until I was 90,” Buffett said in a telephone interview from his Omaha office. “But once I started, it was irreversible.”
He described subtle changes in his life, such as his occasionally unbalanced steps, his sudden stuck memory of people's names, and even his inability to see the handwriting on the newspaper.
Over the past year, these thoughts and feelings have converged into one decision.
On May 3, at Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting, Buffett shocked the investment community by revealing in the final minutes of the question-and-answer session that he would step down as CEO in December and be succeeded by Greg Abel.
Buffett will continue to serve as chairman of Berkshire's board and has not set a timetable for assuming that role.
The audience in the Omaha Arena fell silent as Buffett spoke, then burst into applause. Even Abel, who was on stage with him, didn't know what to expect.
“Let more efficient people take the helm”
Abel, 62, joined Berkshire in 1999 through MidAmerican, an energy company acquired by Berkshire. Buffett was impressed by his success in developing the company's energy business and promoted Abel to vice chairman in 2018, making him responsible for all of Berkshire's non-insurance businesses. By 2021, he was Buffett's designated successor as CEO.
“Really good people are very rare,” Buffett said. “Rare in business. Rare in capital allocation. Rare in almost any human activity you can think of.”
In 1965, the 34-year-old Buffett took over the bankrupt textile factory Berkshire and built it into a giant with a market value of nearly one trillion US dollars, including dozens of companies such as GEICO Insurance, BNSF Railway, DQ Ice Cream, and major investments such as Apple and American Express.
As Berkshire has evolved from an investment vehicle for Buffett to a sprawling conglomerate with nearly 400,000 employees, the skills needed to keep the company running have also changed. Buffett praised Abel as both an excellent manager and a great dealmaker.
Greg Abel (third from left) and Warren Buffett (seated) at the 2025 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. Photo credit: MATTHEW PUTNEY/AP/JAZWARES
“The difference between how much he and I can get done in a 10-hour day and the energy level — that difference is getting bigger and bigger,” Buffett said. “He’s much more efficient in running things, in moving management around where he needs to, in helping people who need help in certain ways, in just about everything.”
“To be honest, it would be unfair not to have Greg in this position,” he added. “The more years Berkshire can get from Greg, the better off it will be.”
Few expected to hear these words in 2025.
Many observers have thought that 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 would stay as CEO as long as I was more useful as CEO than anyone else,” he said. “And I was surprised that, you know, it lasted this long.”
Although his days as CEO are numbered, Buffett has said he intends to keep working.
“When panic strikes, I can still make a difference”
"My health is good and I feel good every day," he said. "I'm here in the office, working with people I love, who love me, and we have a lot of fun together."
Buffett's speech appears on the screen at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting. Image source: REUTERS
While Buffett acknowledged that age has indeed diminished some of his abilities, he said he still possesses perhaps his most prized and rare talent as an investor.
“I have no trouble making decisions now that I would have made 20, 40 or 60 years ago,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “If there’s a panic in the market, I’m going to be here to play because I don’t get scared when prices go down or when everybody’s panicking.”
“And it really has nothing to do with age.”
The same is true for Abel, Buffett said. Although Abel has been tasked in recent years with overseeing subsidiaries, Buffett said he is also a successful investor. Berkshire's huge pile of cash and U.S. Treasury bonds has recently attracted attention, and observers have wondered where the company will find its next deal.
"He'll have ideas about where the money should be invested," Buffett said.
Abel's era at the helm begins in eight months, and when it does, Buffett won't be far away. He plans to continue coming to the Omaha office.
“I’m not going to sit at home and watch soap operas,” he said with a laugh. “My interests are still here.”
Warren Buffett Reveals He Stepped Down After Finally Feeling His Age
