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Warren Buffett officially retired as the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the start of this year. He is no longer as involved in Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK-B) but will be the Chairman and guide the company as needed. Plus, he retains a significant stake in Berkshire Hathaway, with 38% of Class A shares being his.
BRK stock is down slightly on the first day of trading, so Wall Street mostly seems content with the leadership change. Investors will now look for results and reward/punish the stock based on that.
There’s no better way to judge the direction Berkshire Hathaway may take than to look at Greg Abel’s own background, plus his own biggest holding.
Let’s do just that.
Greg Abel’s background
Buffett’s successor is much more low-profile, at least compared to him. However, he is still a very wealthy individual, with Bloomberg calling him a billionaire.
He was born in Alberta, Canada, and spent most of his early life there, graduating from the University of Alberta in 1984. He worked at one of the “Big Four” accounting firms, called PwC.
He then joined CalEnergy (a geothermal power company) and eventually took on leadership roles connected to utility acquisitions. CalEnergy bought MidAmerican Energy in 1999, shortly after which Berkshire took a majority stake. This brought Abel into Buffett’s orbit.
Abel’s rise through Berkshire’s ranks
Greg Abel officially became Berkshire’s CEO on January 1, 2026. He effectively started in 1999 and became CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy in 2008. In 2018, Buffett promoted Abel to vice chair of Berkshire Hathaway (alongside Ajit Jain), putting him over Berkshire’s non-insurance operations at the parent-company level.
He has managed major Berkshire businesses since 2018, including BNSF Railway, Dairy Queen, See’s Candies, and multiple manufacturing operations. All of that experience is sure to come in handy when scrutinizing various businesses before buying their stocks.
Buffett publicly named Abel as his successor in 2021 and has been unwavering in his endorsement.
Moreover, Buffett has repeatedly tried to convince Wall Street that Abel can steer the company in the right direction. He has unusually direct language, saying that Abel would have the final say. He went further and framed Abel as a “natural,” implying Abel didn’t need to be coached into the role.
Greg Abel’s $170 million holding is… Berkshire itself
Abel keeps most of his personal holdings private, but what we do know is that he has a large stake in Berkshire Hathaway. Reuters reported that he owns “nearly $170 million” of Berkshire stock.
No one knows his precise total net worth, so it is likely that Abel’s largest holding is Berkshire Hathaway. With such a large personal stake, one can deduce that his goals are aligned with those of the shareholders.
The challenges ahead
The challenge isn’t that Berkshire is in a hole the CEO now has to claw back out of. It’s quite the opposite. Buffett left a $381.7 billion cash pile on top of a $314.6 billion stock portfolio. The cash pile is actually in treasuries that are likely yielding in excess of 4% a year, but that’s still idle money and won’t outrun the market after factoring in inflation.
Abel needs to allocate this vast cash pile into the right companies at a time when most quality businesses come with hefty price tags. Buffett himself has pointed this out as his rationale for selling for over 3 years straight. However, there’s shareholder pressure on Abel to allocate this cash due to the unrelenting market rally. Buffett has left it up to Abel to decide, calling him the “decider” of capital allocation decisions.
If he does yield to the pressure and starts allocating capital aggressively, it may end up badly if the broader market corrects. Conversely, Berkshire can start underperforming if Abel decides to play it too passively. He’s still in Buffett’s shadow to some extent, so the long-term test will come when Buffett is no longer Chairman.
Charlie Munger passed away in November. Buffett is 95 years old today, and while he did say that retiring was “unthinkable,” it is possible that even he did not expect to live this long. Thus, each year that passes makes it likelier that Buffett will no longer be around. Instead of a shock event that leaves shareholders hopeless, choosing a successor now and smoothly passing over the controls to Abel is the right idea.
The transition from legendary founder to successor rarely goes smoothly in corporate America, but Berkshire has done everything possible to set Abel up for success. Buffett is still around and can guide him as necessary.