Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,
Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, wrote in his annual letter to shareholders that he will be “going quiet” after he steps down as the company’s chief executive at the end of 2025.
In the letter, dated Monday, the 95-year-old said that he will no longer speak at the company’s annual meeting or write his yearly letter. Buffett added that he is now the longest-lived member of his family.
Buffett also said he would be hastening the pace at which he hands over his Berkshire Hathaway shares to family foundations, including ones runs by his family.
The famed investor converted 1,800 of his Class A shares into 2.7 million Class B shares on Monday, a move worth approximately $1.35 billion. Of the shares, 1.5 million was sent to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, and The Sherwood Foundation, The Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and the NoVo Foundation each received 400,000 shares.
“The acceleration of my lifetime gifts to my children’s foundations in no way reflects any change in my views about Berkshire’s prospects,” he wrote.
“Greg Abel has more than met the high expectations I had for him when I first thought he should be Berkshire’s next CEO.”
Greg Abel, who will replace him as Berkshire Hathaway’s next CEO, is the vice chairman of non-insurance operations at Berkshire and was named as Buffett’s successor in 2021.
“He is a great manager, a tireless worker, and an honest communicator. Wish him an extended tenure,” he wrote.
As he has in the past several letters, Buffett also praised the U.S. economic system and told the Berkshire shareholders to “remember to thank America for maximizing your opportunities.”
He also provided an update on his health, saying, “I generally feel good. Though I move slowly and read with increasing difficulty, I am at the office five days a week where I work with wonderful people.”
Since the start of the year, Berkshire Hathaway’s shares have risen more than 10 percent to $498.65 per share. As of Monday, the company had a market capitalization of $1.08 trillion.
Berkshire, which Buffett acquired in 1965, owns a number of other businesses, including Benjamin Moore & Co., BNSF Railway, Business Wire, Dairy Queen, Fruit of the Loom, Geico, Pilot Flying J, and See’s Candies. The company also has significant investments in major companies such as Apple, Bank of America, and Coca-Cola.
Last week, Berkshire warned that videos using AI-generated images of Buffett are circulating on YouTube, featuring comments he never made.
Berkshire said in its warning on Nov. 6. “Mr. Buffett is concerned that these types of fraudulent videos are becoming a spreading virus,” Berkshire said on Nov. 6. “Individuals who are less familiar with Mr. Buffett may believe these videos are real and be misled by the contents of these videos.”
Buffett in May announced he would be stepping down at the end of the year.
“Choose your heroes very carefully and then emulate them,” Buffett wrote to end his letter, adding, “You will never be perfect, but you can always be better.”
Read the whole letter below:
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