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Author: Karen Langley, Wall Street Journal; compiled by: Deng Tong, Bitchain Vision
Warren Buffett can’t know exactly when he decided to hand over control of Berkshire Hathaway to Greg Abel.
But in recent years, Buffett has noticed that his designated successor is energetic every day, while his own pace slows down.The two of them have completely different working paces, and the differences are getting bigger and bigger.
“There are no magical moments. How do you know the day you get older?” Buffett, 94, said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
Berkshire shareholders and bystanders have long been thinking about who can replace Buffett — a giant in the business and financial sectors of the United States for decades.butAs his 90th birthday approaches, Buffett begins to experience one thing that most people have accepted very early: his age.
“Somehow, I didn’t really start getting older until I was around 90,” he said in a telephone interview from his office in Omaha, Nebraska.“But when you start getting older, it becomes – it’s irreversible.”
He began to lose his balance occasionally and sometimes couldn’t even remember a person’s name.Suddenly, the newspapers he read seemed to be printed too little.
Over the past year, these thoughts and feelings have come together into a decision.On May 3, at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, Buffett revealed in the last few minutes of the Q&A session that he planned to step down as CEO in December and give way to Abel, a move that shocked the investment community.Buffett will continue to serve as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, and no specific appointment schedule has been set yet.
When Buffett spoke, the Omaha Stadium was full and the audience was silent, and then there was warm applause.Even Abel, who was on the same stage with him at the time, had no idea what would happen next.
Abel, 62, joined Berkshire in 1999 for Berkshire’s investment in MidAmerican Energy, a utility based in Des Moines, Iowa.Buffett was impressed by Abel’s success in building the company’s energy business, and promoted him to vice chairman in 2018 and held him in charge of all Berkshire’s non-insurance operations.By 2021, he will be selected by Buffett to take over as CEO.
“True great talent is very rare,” Buffett said. “It’s very rare in the business world, it’s very rare in the capital allocation world, and it’s very rare in almost all human activities you can think of.”
In the spring of 1965, Buffett took over Berkshire at the age of 34.At the time, Berkshire was just a struggling textile manufacturer in New England.Over the years, he has built it into a giant.Berkshire operates insurance companies, utilities and rail companies, as well as household brands from Ice Queen to Kings.The company’s huge stock portfolio holds a large number of shares in Apple and American Express.
As Berkshire grew from Buffett’s investment vehicle to a huge corporate group with nearly 400,000 employees, the skills needed to keep the company running changed.Buffett praised Abel for being both an excellent manager and a dealmaker.
Greg Abel (third from left) and Warren Buffett attended the 2025 Berkshire Hathaway Annual General Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska.Image source: MATTHEW PUTNEY/AP/JAZWARES
“The gap in his energy level compared to me, and his 10-hour workload every day – the gap is getting bigger and bigger,” Buffett said.“He is much more efficient in doing things, making management adjustments when needed, helping those in need, and in a variety of ways.”
“It’s really unfair not to let Greg take over the position,” he added.“The longer Greg’s tenure at Berkshire, the better.”
Few people expect to hear these words in 2025.Many observers have thought that Buffett might have been in charge of Berkshire until his death.But Buffett said he never thought he would be Berkshire’s lifelong CEO.
“I thought I could always be CEO as long as I felt I was more useful than anyone else,” he said.”But you know, I was surprised that no one took over for so long.”
Although Buffett has had only a handful of days as CEO, he said he plans to continue working.
“I have a good health and feel good every day,” he said.“I’m in the office now and working with people I like and they like me so we get along very well.”
Buffett’s speech was played on the screen of Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholders’ meeting.Photo: Reuters
Buffett admits that some of his abilities have weakened as he gets older, but says he still has perhaps the most cherished and rare investor talent he has.
“I don’t have any difficulties when making decisions now, just like I did 20 years ago, 40 years ago, or 60 years ago,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “If there is a panic in the market, I will come in handy here because when prices fall or when everyone is panic, I won’t feel scared.”
“And it really has nothing to do with age.”
Buffett said, so was Abel.Although Abel has worked in recent years as a regulatory subsidiary, Buffett said he is also a successful investor.Berkshire Hathaway’s huge cash and U.S. Treasury bonds have attracted attention recently, and observers have speculated about where the company’s next deal will come from.
“He will have his own ideas about the direction of investment in funds,” Buffett said.
Berkshire Hathaway’s Abel era is coming in less than eight months.By then, Buffett is not far from us.He plans to continue to go to his office in Omaha.
“I won’t stay at home to watch soap operas anymore,” he said with a smile, “my interests remain the same.”
