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Warren Buffett, the world’s most famous investor, said he planned to withdraw from the danger of his vast Berkshire Hathaway, a financial scam he has built over the past six decades.
The 94-year-old-known as “Oracle of Omaha”-said he would propose that Greg Abel take over the leadership of Berkshire at the end of this year.
“The time has arrived when Greg must become the chief executive of the company at the end of the year and I want to accept it in the directors and receive that recommendation,” he said.
Abel, 62, whom Buffett had previously named as his eventual successor, is vice president of the non-assurance operations of Berkshire.
Buffett said that he had not given the other directors of Abel or Berkshire any prior notice, making the announcement at the end of a 60th annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska.
Berkshire is one of the largest conglomerates in the world, managing a portfolio of nearly 200 businesses. Buffett took it in 1965 when he was a medium -sized textile manufacturer.
Buffett plans to meet a meeting Sunday with the Berkshire Board of Directors to answer questions about his decision.
“Two of the directors who are my children know what I will talk about,” he said. “For the rest of them, this will come as news.”
He added that he “would still depend and could be useful in some cases”, but that the cloak must completely move to Abel.
The crowd of tens of thousands of shareholders who had landed in Omaha for the event exploded in applause after the announcement.
“This is absolutely monumental,” said Christopher Rossbach, leading investment official Berkshire J stern & Co, said through tears as he left the Arena on Saturday afternoon.
“Berkshire Hathaway is an extraordinary business and an extraordinary achievement. It stands for everything that is best for American capitalism and entrepreneurship.”
Buffett is pulling to a high. Berkshire shares “A”-The closet held by Buffett himself and many of his earliest investors-closed Friday with a record of $ 809,808.50, a price that not only reflected his long-term investment success, but also the money poured by Berkshire operating businesses.
The stock has increased 20 percent since the beginning of the year, while the S&P 500 index has slipped 3 percent.
Buffett assured shareholders who, even when he no longer officially run the conglomerate, he would keep his shares in Berkshire. “I have no purpose – zero – in selling a part of Berkshire Hathaway,” he said. “I will gradually donate it.”
Berkshire now makes her money from her wide insurance business, which includes companies such as Geico, as well as a host of other companies from airspace to railroads to chocolate stores. The textile business was closed in 1985.
Although he is one of the country’s richest individuals with a net worth of about $ 168 billion, according to Forbes, Buffett has maintained an atmosphere of folly, attracting shareholders every year to Omaha for a holiday weekend. He still receives a $ 100,000 nominal salary at home, as he has done for more than 40 years.
The death of his long friend and his business partner Charlie Long in 2023 increased speculation when the buffett can withdraw. On Saturday afternoon in Omaha, the answer finally arrived.
“This is the news stroke for the day,” Buffett said with a thorn.
