Buffett Finally Talks Succession

Investors have been waiting for years to learn about Warren Buffett's eventual successor at Berkshire Hathaway. By the time the news finally snuck out at the company's annual meeting over the weekend, it felt anticlimactic. 

Buffett, 90, confirmed that Berkshire executive Greg Abel would be his successor. “The directors are in agreement that if something were to happen to me tonight, it would be Greg who’d take over tomorrow morning,” he told CNBC.

Barron's has long considered Abel, who runs Berkshire's non-insurance businesses, to be the likely pick. Andrew Bary has covered Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway for years — he offered some quick context for Barron's readers today: 

·        "Abel, 58 years old, was CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, a diversified utility business that is 91%-owned by Berkshire Hathaway, from 2008 to 2018, when he was named a Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman with responsibility for the conglomerate’s sprawling non-insurance businesses. He remains chairman of the utility unit."

·        "Berkshire Hathaway Energy has become one of the largest owners of renewable energy, with a portfolio of wind and solar electric generation capacity of nearly 12,000 megawatts at year-end 2020...

It ranks fifth globally in renewables and second in the U.S., behind NextEra Energy..."

·        "Like other Berkshire executives, Abel keeps a low profile, rarely giving media interviews. He enjoys playing hockey."

·        "Abel owns a roughly 1% stake in Berkshire Hathaway Energy that probably is worth more than $500 million, given the size and profitability of the business....Still, his holding of stock in the conglomerate is relatively small, at less than $3 million."

·        "Buffett holds a 16% stake in Berkshire worth about $100 billion and regularly tells shareholders that if he makes mistakes, he will feel financial pain, just as they do." 

You can read all of Andrew's story here.