End of Warren Buffett era: Legendary American billionaire Warren Buffett announced his plan to step down from Berkshire Hathaway by the end of the year. "I think ... the time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year end," Buffett said at a live event which gained much praise from the investor.
"The meeting following that which will come in a few months we’ll take action on whatever the view is of the 11 directors. I think they’ll be unanimously in favour of it. That would mean that at year end Greg (Vice Chairman Greg Abel) would be the chief executive of Berkshire," he said. "I would still hang around and be useful in a few cases, but the final word would be what Greg said," added Buffett.
Wouldn't want the job of trying to correct: Buffett
"We are doing something that is unsustainable," and could become uncontrollable with the fiscal deficit in the United States," Buffett told shareholders. "I wouldn't want the job of trying to correct what's going on" with the gap between revenues and expenditures of the United States. The wider the gap "the more you get to where the uncontrollable begins."
"It's a job I don't want but its a job that I think should be done and Congress does not seem good at doing it," he said to applause.
Fast facts about Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett is the chairman and CEO of trillion-dollar conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway. He is the world's sixth-richest person and is arguably its most famous investor.
Buffett, who will turn Berkshire over to Vice Chairman Greg Abel at the end of the year, has led the Omaha, Nebraska-based company since 1965. He is credited with transforming Berkshire from a failing textile company into a $1.03 trillion conglomerate with dozens of businesses in insurance, railroad, energy and other sectors.
It owns businesses such as the BNSF railroad and Geico car insurance, and stocks such as Apple and American Express.
Buffett, 94, plans to donate 99.5 per cent of his remaining wealth to a charitable trust overseen by his daughter and two sons when he dies.
Who is Greg Abel, Buffett's successor?
A 25-year Berkshire veteran who will take over Berkshire at the end of the year, Vice Chairman Greg Abel, 62, is expected by investors and analysts to uphold the $865 billion conglomerate's track record of investing in companies for the long haul and eschewing dividend payments to shareholders.
Berkshire, which owns railroads, insurance companies and an ice-cream maker, has been planning for decades for the eventuality when Buffett, 94, who has run the company since 1965, is no longer there.
Abel was designated Buffett's successor as chief executive in 2021.
(With inputs from agencies)