By Manya Saini and Jonathan Stempel
Sept 18 (Reuters) - Warren Buffett stepped down on Friday as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, ending more than six decades building the conglomerate and making himself perhaps the world's most revered investor.
Buffett, 96, was named chairman emeritus, with his oldest son Howard Buffett, 71, a director since 1993, becoming non-executive chairman.
The change came nearly nine months after Buffett stepped down as chief executive officer, handing the reins to longtime
lieutenant Greg Abel. Warren Buffett remains a director.
Known as the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett transformed Berkshire from a failing New England textile company into a $1.1 trillion conglomerate. He promoted a value-oriented investment philosophy that influenced generations of investors and executives, with a folksiness that made him understandable and endeared him to people around the world.
"Father Time always wins. He has, however, been generous with me," Buffett said in a letter to shareholders. "Sixty-plus years in, I still have the best job in the world. That is not something many people my age can say, and I have never felt better about what comes next."
Berkshire's empire includes GEICO car insurance, the BNSF railroad, a slew of energy, industrial and retail businesses, Dairy Queen ice cream, and grizzled brands such as Ginsu knives and the World Book Encyclopedia.
It also owns hundreds of billions of dollars of stocks such as Apple, American Express, Google parent Alphabet and Coca-Cola. Berkshire is an outlier in a club of trillion-dollar companies dominated by technology giants.
Shares of Berkshire rose 0.4% in afternoon trading.
Buffett's move was the latest step in a years-long leadership transition, and his reduced role was not a surprise.
The billionaire did not provide new details about his health, but said he recently saw his 1-year-old great-grandson, who was "moving a bit faster" than he could.
"It was always a matter of when, not if. Buffett has made a graceful exit," said Brian Jacobsen, chief economic strategist at Annex Wealth Management in Brookfield, Wisconsin. "This feels more like the completion of a carefully planned succession than a sudden changing of the guard."
ABEL SAYS HOWARD BUFFETT TO MAINTAIN VALUES
Buffett's influence has extended far beyond Berkshire, shaping generations of corporate leaders and investors by emphasizing long-term thinking, disciplined capital allocation and straightforward management.
Investors turned to Buffett, a vocal proponent of American capitalism, for reassurance and advice during periods of economic and geopolitical turmoil. His annual shareholder weekends drew tens of thousands to Omaha to celebrate Berkshire and reinforce their own thinking.
"The culture Warren built and the values he championed will remain at the heart of Berkshire, and Howard will be their guardian," Abel said on Friday.
Chairman emeritus is an honorary title typically given to retired founders, executives and directors to recognize their service and lasting impact.
Though Abel's planned ascension to CEO was announced in 2021, Buffett surprised many by announcing in May 2025 he would step aside as CEO.
Berkshire said Buffett will continue offering his valued judgment and perspective as a director.
Buffett is worth about $145 billion, according to Forbes magazine. His fortune would have been much higher had he not donated more than half his Berkshire stock to charity since 2006.
'KEEP THINGS SIMPLE'
Unlike his father, Howard Buffett, known as Howie, would not have a management role as chairman, and his main responsibility would be to preserve Berkshire's culture.
That culture includes letting Berkshire's operating businesses handle their day-to-day affairs without interference from upper management, though Abel is widely seen as keener than Warren Buffett to address performance shortfalls.
Howard Buffett had his own definition of Berkshire's culture.
"It's not rocket science," he told the Wall Street Journal in January 2025. "The culture is to keep things simple, to do what you need to do but don't do a lot of things you don't need to do, treat people fairly, respect your managers, respect your shareholders. Tell them the bad news upfront, be honest."
Abel, 64, has direct oversight of several Berkshire business lines, while Vice Chairman Ajit Jain oversees insurance and newly installed President Adam Johnson oversees consumer, services and retail subsidiaries.
Since becoming CEO, Abel has begun making Berkshire his own, including by spending $16.8 billion in two days to buy the Taylor Morrison home builder and expand Berkshire's stake in Alphabet.
Berkshire ended June with a near-record $364.7 billion of cash, giving Abel freedom to buy more companies and stocks.
Through Thursday, Berkshire shares lagged the Standard & Poor's 500 by about 11 percentage points in 2026.
The company trades at close to 1.5 trailing book value, or assets minus liabilities. Many observers believe the "Buffett premium" in the stock price is entirely or substantially gone.
"You had a company led by a famed value investor, and now you don't," said Cathy Seifert, an analyst at CFRA Research. "It is incumbent on Greg to assuage investors' concerns over Berkshire's capital allocation strategy, now that Warren Buffett really isn't involved."
(Reporting by Manya Saini and Niket Nishant in Bengaluru and Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Will Dunham and Christian Plumb)
