May 10, 2025 / VOLUME NO. 365

Berkshire Hathaway’s Tricky Transition

Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting is generally a festive affair that goes above-and-beyond the typical stockholder gathering to include a 5K run, picnic and shopping opportunities for shareholders that feature the company’s brands, such as Brooks’ running shoes and See’s Candies. This month, the meeting concluded with a big surprise for shareholders: Warren Buffett, at 94, announced he will step down as CEO at the end of the year, handing the reins to Greg Abel. 

Abel, 62, who joined the company in 2008, has run its non-insurance operations since 2018. He was publicly named Buffett’s successor in 2021. While the timing appeared to be news to Berkshire Hathaway’s board, directors voted the next day in favor of Abel as their next CEO. 

In 2014, Buffett wrote about the importance of choosing the right CEO in his annual letter to shareholders. “Managing Berkshire is primarily a job of capital allocation, coupled with the selection and retention of outstanding managers to captain our operating subsidiaries,” he wrote. That would require “a rational, calm and decisive individual who has a broad understanding of business and good insights into human behavior. It’s important as well that he knows his limits.” (Despite using the pronoun “he,” Buffett also stated that gender would not determine who would become CEO.) He also said the CEO should be a company insider who would put shareholders first. “A Berkshire CEO must be ‘all in’ for the company, not for himself.” 

Buffett, who has been a controlling shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway since 1965, plans to hang onto his shares, a substantial 37.9% of the company — holdings that are primarily higher-priced, Class A stock. He will also remain chairman.

“I would still hang around and could conceivably be useful in a few cases,” Buffett told shareholders. “But the final word would be what Greg said, in operations, in capital deployment, whatever it may be.”

It can be a tricky balance for a new CEO to lead a company alongside their predecessor. For Abel, he’ll report to a board that includes the world’s most famous investor, one who’s successfully run Berkshire Hathaway for decades. As its most significant shareholder, Buffett has a vested interest in the company’s future success. Like any new CEO, Abel will need to forge his own path at Berkshire Hathaway. I wish him the best of luck. He’ll certainly need it.

• Emily McCormick, vice president of editorial & research for Bank Director

Big Bank M&A Poised to Return

A number of large banks are likely interested in once again pursuing transactions, and this could happen if the regulatory environment shifts as expected, according to Piper Sandler Companies’ Bill Burgess.

“The rules were unknown to the large banks. I met with a large acquirer, and they said, ‘Before I enter the playing field, I kind of want to know what the rules are.’”

–– Bill Burgess, Piper Sandler Companies

• Jackie Stewart, executive editor for Bank Director

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