Warren Buffett is stepping down as chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. This company was founded by him along with Charlie Hunger and is operational for the past sixty years. Buffett is considered the greatest investor of all time.
He dismisses the idea that anyone has the ability to predict future. He attributes his success to patience and investing in business that he understands. His returns are about double the returns of the S & P 500 Index. They have delivered a 20 per cent compounded annual return between 1964 and 2024. The business is now valued at $ 1.6 trillion plus, supports 390,000 employees and has a cash balance of $ 347.7 billion.
Buffett gives credit to people around him including vice chairman (for non-insurance operatistons) Greg Abel and Munger. He believes in ‘quality’ buying great companies at the right price.
In the 2008 financial crisis, Buffet scooped up investment in Goldman Sachs, GE and Dow Chemical. Yet he dismisses the notion that he has great foresight.
Buffet is extremely humble. After moving in New York for some time, he returned to Berkshire in Omaha, Nebraska. He was born there. He had purchased a house there in 1958, for $31500 and continues to stay there. He is nicknamed the Oracle of Omaha, a misnomer perhaps. He treats Berkshire shareholders as co-owners in the company. At the AGMi in Omaha, he sits for hours taking questions from the audience.
In recent years, his company has experienced some lag. Corporate valuations reached dizzy levels on account of cheap and easy money. Berkshire is keeping pace with the S & P 500 benchmark. However, the investing industry has changed. It has become more democratized.
Buffet’s personal net worth $168.6 billion. it is partly a result of a long career and magic of compounding.
He announced in May 2025 that his successor by the end of the year will be Able(62).
David Sokel resigned in 2011 and he was a service contender to succeed Buffett. He had apparently violated company policies by buying Lubrizol shares. Abel is low-key and has been cut from similar cloth as that of Buffett. He took more public duties in recent years, including sitting on stage with Buffett at Berkshire annual meetings to answer investor’s questions.